An unfolding of the Life divine

Prior to being introduced to Christian Science, I had come from an evangelical Christianity. Those teachings had produced a love for God and the Bible and a longing to live my life as best I could in the manner that Jesus spoke of.

When I first started dating my husband, he gave me a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures to read. In the beginning, I struggled to accept some of its teachings, since they were starkly different from the theology that I had been taught and come to believe. I put the book down and instead started reading about Mary Baker Eddy and the many people she healed instantaneously. I remember thinking how those healings were reminiscent of the way Jesus healed during his earthly ministry. I knew that this healing was of God and hungered to know more. So I began reading Science and Health again, and slowly my spiritual understanding started to increase. Things I had questioned about my previous theological teaching were suddenly explained in ways that made absolute sense to me.

My first healing came after a night when I had been up due to a family emergency and was only able to get 2–3 hours of sleep. I typically needed 8 hours of sleep and was concerned that I would be too tired to get through my work day, even with coffee. A practitioner was called to provide treatment, and I soon found that I was more alert than I normally felt with 8 hours of sleep and required no assistance from caffeine. This experience compelled me to continue reading, learning, growing, and understanding what Christian Science truly was about.

When I reflect on why I became a Christian Scientist, it was not one moment or one reason. It was a progression, an unfolding of “the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man’s dominion over the whole earth” (Science and Health 14:26–28). It was the love of God poured out in my heart (see Romans 5:5), leading me to a higher understanding of God as All-in-all. I was discovering what it truly means to be spiritually minded, to experience healing, and to love God more deeply. Truth, Life, Love, Spirit, Mind, healing: these are the reasons I am a Christian Scientist.