As a child I was a free spirit, happy and fearless. Then, somewhere along the road to adulthood, I began to feel daily anxiety and had niggling concerns about everything. As a student of Christian Science, I recognized that this sense of unease was not part of my native, God-given, beautiful being.
Two Bible verses became my guides as I prayed to find a lasting inner peace and dominion, regardless of the human circumstances I was facing (professional, personal, or otherwise). The first, and perhaps more familiar, verse that was so helpful was John 14:27, which offers Jesus’ comforting instruction, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The second is from Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, in which he encouraged them not to be shaken or influenced by false doctrines or teachings: “. . . be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (II Thessalonians 2:2).
I knew my peace and dominion came straight from God, the one Mind and source of all life and intelligence. They could not be shaken or taken from me. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God” (p. 250). This said to me that as God’s reflection, I express the permanent peace of Mind.
