What does it mean to be really intimate? A close, intimate relationship is one in which we feel safe and secure—able to be ourselves—and feel loved, lovable, and loving. In Soul Mates, Thomas Moore says, "In order to cultivate intimacy we need to find forms of expression that emerge from and touch the soul." Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship (New York: HarperCollins, 1994). p. 116 . The results of this kind of intimacy are rich, meaningful, and mutually satisfying. Marriage provides the opportunity for such intimacy, but it doesn't guarantee it. Books on the subject of intimacy, discussions on talk shows, and pleas from the pulpit—to say nothing of the statistics regarding divorce—point to the fact that people are searching for more fulfilling relationships, for more intimate ones.
My husband and I learned some lessons about intimacy under very difficult circumstances—circumstances that dictated the boundaries of our physical closeness and pressed us to deepen our understanding of what intimacy really is.
For over two years I suffered from a serious illness. I was eventually healed through prayer in Christian Science, as I increasingly experienced the practical results of knowing God and my relationship with Him/Her. I learned the fact of my life in God from the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. My husband and I are grateful beyond measure for this book and for the fact that my health was fully restored. In addition, we feel almost inexpressible gratitude for the entire experience, which, though extremely difficult, transformed us not only individually but as partners. Through it we gained a deeper and more intimate sense of our relationship with God, which ultimately showed us how to be more lovingly intimate with each other.
