I ATTENDED A CHRISTIAN Science Sunday School as a young child until my family relocated to another city. I started smoking at the age of fourteen and smoked up to two packs a day. I briefly began attending a Christian Science church again in my twenties but stopped when I married. When my marriage ended in divorce, I started attending a Christian Science church in Dallas, Texas, but I was still smoking. As I grew in my understanding of Christian Science I had a deep desire to take Christian Science class instruction, so I prayed to be freed of the smoking habit, and I was free for many years.
However, in 1994 I moved to San Antonio to be near family after being laid off from a major company in Dallas that was downsizing. I was forced to take early retirement just weeks before reaching the 15-year mark of service with the company, which affected my final payout and any future benefits I would have been entitled to. At this time I started smoking again to ease the stress. Although I was praying about the problem, I was really using a mix of will power and thinking that the smoking was a part of my identity that I had to change.
I was thrilled to learn that the manager of the apartment complex where I moved was a Christian Scientist. One day I received a call from her saying that she was looking for a part-time leasing agent and my name kept popping up. It was an ideal situation for me in many ways. The biggest blessing was having this manager as a mentor, seeing how she lived and shared Christian Science.
