When I retired in 1986, after almost 40 years in education, I decided, Now it's time for Jo. I get to do the things I want to do! My husband retired the same year I did. So we thought, Now's the time to enjoy. I'd been an active member of my Christian Science branch church for many years, and I looked forward to doing more at church.
Then five summers ago, my husband and I were on vacation, and I got a call from a member of our church who asked if I would pray for his sister. I did my best to convince him that I was not in the public healing practice but he said, "No, she needs your help. You're the one." I finally agreed to pray for her, and I've been busy almost every day since taking calls from people who ask me to pray for them. God obviously had new plans for me.
In regard to it being too early or too late to go into the public practice of Christian Science: I thought it was so interesting that in a letter to First Church of Christ, Scientist in Cleveland, Ohio, Mary Baker Eddy apologized for not being able to attend the dedicatory service of their church because she had been very busy. She added, "However, it is never too late to repent, to love more, to work more, to watch and pray ..." (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 195). I thought, What a wonderful answer to anybody who's thinking about going into the healing practice. It's never too late to love more.
To me, love and humility are the two most essential qualities in Christian Science treatment. Certainly, we have those qualities at any age. I had not wanted to go into the public practice for selfish reasons. But God didn't let me continue being selfish. When He wants us in the public practice, and if we're humble enough to listen to divine guidance, He puts us there.
I find that a good share of my Christian Science practice is helping people with family relationships and business relationships. When I first started in the field of education, I taught for five years in a facility for girls labeled delinquent. That got me very interested in going back to school and getting a counseling credential. After I did, I counseled for many years in the public schools and then was asked to become an assistant principal in high school.
During those many years, I felt that I was in the healing practice all that time. I prayed through some really difficult situations while working with young people. Certainly, God was upholding me. But I never intended to advertise in the Journal as a Christian Science practitioner, even after that first call for help five years ago in my "retirement."
Then last year I was praying for a woman who had written down very plainly for her family that she wanted to go to a Christian Science care facility if she ever needed physical care. I told her that since I wasn't advertising as a practitioner in the Journal, she would have to find another practitioner if she ever needed to go to one of these facilities. (When someone enters a Christian Science care facility, they are expected to engage the help of a practitioner advertising in Journal.) She responded, "Well, get into the Journal!" That was the impetus. I thought, If I really am a practitioner then I need to be a practitioner to all people and all situations. So last March, I applied to advertise in this magazine.
Time and age have never meant much to me. In fact, as kids, whenever my two brothers and I said that we didn't have time to do something, my mother would say, "Oh, yes you do—you have eternity." She said that time was just the noise the clock makes. So I think of my new life in the Christian Science practice as just one more step of progress in eternity.
