AFTER 26 YEARS OF MARRIAGE, my husband passed on unexpectedly. And although we'd been having difficulties in our relationship for the previous decade, I was feeling a greater sense of hopefulness in their resolution before his passing. He was not a Christian Scientist, and over the years it just seemed that we grew far apart in our views about many aspects of life.
Several months after his passing, a Christian Scientist I knew began asking me out, and I began to feel God was leading me into a whole new wonderful experience—with someone like-minded. Although I didn't think I wanted to marry again, I was open to whatever divine Love was unfolding.
Then our relationship began to get more physical than I was comfortable with, and I found myself praying almost constantly with a line from the Lord's Prayer: "Lead us not into temptation" (Matt. 6:13). Also, I was a bit shocked when my friend told me that he didn't see anything wrong with sex between two consenting single adults, since this was definitely not what I had been taught growing up and in my study of Christian Science.