Krystal Harpin
It seems, looking back, that I was always meant to be a Christian Scientist.
I was raised with very little spiritual guidance. My parents were strict and insisted on living a good life, but not with spiritual authority behind it—just good because it was right and moral. Occasionally they would take me to Sunday School at a Methodist church, and to vacation Bible school there until I was seven or eight.
Honestly, Sunday School was more confusing than helpful for me. I didn’t understand what the teachers were talking about with the “our Father’s” and “halloweds,” and all the rest. And without going consistently, I never could follow the Bible stories—who did what, where, and when. I should have asked, but I had the feeling that I should already know what they were talking about, and I didn’t want to be embarrassed, so I never asked. I was left to figure God out on my own. I tried to read the Bible a few times, but I didn’t get far.
My mom did a couple of things that I’m sure helped me become the Christian Scientist that I am now. The first was deciding when I was still very young that she was not going to expose her family to prescriptions or antibiotics anymore and switched to a homeopathic lifestyle. The other was her support of me when I decided, after a nasty side effect, that I would not take another vaccination. She allowed me to make that decision at age nine, and worked out all the exemptions for school.
I was exposed to many different religions in school. My first best friend in elementary school was Mormon, and my best friends in high school were a Jehovah’s Witness, a Catholic, and a Unitarian. We talked about religion, but I felt each of theirs had something that I just could never make myself believe. So I really didn’t concern myself about it. I always felt there was something there, but I didn’t think I needed a church to guide me.
My first exposure to Christian Science was through a co-worker at a restaurant I worked at in high school. His name was Christian. I found him intriguing because he had long hair and tattoos, and I really couldn’t picture him in church every Sunday. He was very passionate about what he believed, though, and I had learned to respect that. I enjoyed his company, and had fleeting girlish thoughts about him, but he was older and engaged, so I didn’t really take notice of those thoughts.
A couple of years went by, and one weekend he wasn’t at work, which was unusual, because he was always at work. I inquired as to where he was, and a cook told me he was getting married that weekend. I remember feeling sad about that. But it turned out the cook was mistaken, and Christian was just camping.
A few months later, I left for college. I experienced some really difficult situations and dropped out at the end of the semester and went back to work at the restaurant. In the time I was gone, Christian had become part-owner, and a couple of months later, I did, too. He and his fiancée had also broken up. We were soon spending pretty much all of our time together, and we began to date. I knew immediately that I was completely in love with him. Easter Sunday he went to church and I went to spend it with my family.
For the first time I felt loved by God, and felt love directly for God.
When we were together again that evening, I asked him about church and Christian Science. He replied, “God is Love.” Amazingly, no one had ever said that to me before. It hit home. I was so completely and newly in love at the time that I really saw that God must be Love, and for the first time I felt loved by God, and felt love directly for God, for what I was experiencing. I was shocked that it could be that simple.
I asked Christian if I could read his copy of Science and Health, which he was, of course, happy to have me do. I read it and was amazed at the truths Mary Baker Eddy discovered. Everything she explained made sense to me. I hadn’t used medicine for such a long time, so it was no problem for me not to turn to material remedies. I was able to apply what I learned to heal myself of small things, such as headaches—though it was still challenging to understand how complete healing could come about.
Christian and I were married a couple of years later, and three years after that, we had our first child. I felt I was still making small demonstrations, but I wasn’t studying every day, or even going to church weekly. I had all kinds of excuses. It was too far to travel, I didn’t have time, I worked too much, I had a new baby, etc. But I realized that I wasn’t being the expression of motherhood that I wanted to be, or even really the wife I wanted to be.
Around this time, I began thinking about taking Christian Science class instruction (a 12-day class on healing). The teacher I applied to accepted my application on one condition—that I quit smoking. A few months later, I had (that is a whole other demonstration!), and a short time after that I became pregnant again.
The time leading up to class was the beginning of a whole new life for my family. Right as I began to prepare in earnest, we had to close our business; we just were not making ends meet anymore. A catering company hired Christian immediately, but I experienced great difficulty in finding a job. That was so hard for me. I had been employed since I was 14, and since then had never been more than a few days without a job. It was quite a change to go from working 50-plus hours a week, to learning to be a stay-at-home mom, which was much more challenging than I ever supposed it would be. We were losing our home, and had to file for bankruptcy.
Taking class was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The blessings were immediate and have continued to unfold. As I was learning how to study and pray better, a resolution for our work and home situation appeared, demonstrating God’s love meeting all our needs.
Instead of regretting the challenges we’d faced, I learned that everything that happened was truly an opportunity for me to wipe the slate clean and start a whole new life, demonstrating Truth and reflecting and glorifying God. It became easy and a joy to include in my new life daily metaphysical defensive work (see Church Manual, p. 42), studying, going to church, and teaching my children early on about God’s love.
I am so grateful to see God’s wonderful unfoldment for me. It is exciting to know that He has better things in store for us than we could ever imagine.
