My wife, Lesley, and I met at a party when we were quite young. We took to each other right away and started an on-again, off-again relationship that eventually led to marriage. I had a good career going. We had a nice family home, and three lovely children came along. It sounds as if my next words might be, "We all lived happily ever after," but that's not quite how it worked out.

In the late 1970s, when our kids were about twelve, ten, and six years old, my employer offered to transfer me from Australia to work in Southeast Asia, based in Hong Kong. I considered this promotion a most attractive challenge. The family discussed the move, but it all happened so fast—the offer came right before Christmas, and within a very few weeks I was in Hong Kong. Lesley and the children joined me a few weeks later. Exciting times! (For me, anyway.)

I was happy to be traveling a lot, meeting new people from different cultures, addressing new business problems, and generally being treated like a VIP wherever I went. Looking back, I realize that, in fact, that lifestyle had engendered in me a strain of arrogance that could not have been appealing to my wife. Further, because everything was "business first," I was almost completely caught up in materialism—the purpose was always to make a profit, no matter what. I was popular with the distribution companies I worked with because I was absolutely on their wavelength, despite the cultural differences—differences I found most attractive.

I was having a great time.

For my wife, though, there was little excitement. I have no doubt my pursuits caused her unhappiness, and that this began to create an emotional gap between us.

But our relationship remained intact. When many other choices of location were offered to us, such as Tokyo, Singapore, and the United States, we chose to return to our home in Australia. This choice eliminated the possibility of complications regarding schooling for our children and ensured that the family would stay together. I look back with gratitude that I had the good sense, or was sufficiently receptive to God's guidance, to realize that it was far too early to start seeing our family break up.

Our return to Australia was predicated on the fact that I would receive a further promotion. My work involved nationwide responsibilities, so I was called upon to travel the country frequently. Soon I developed a feeling of restlessness in my personal life. All of this physical and emotional distance put further strains on the marriage. Eventually we reached a breaking point, and it seemed almost a foregone conclusion that Lesley and I would separate. We even got to the point where we informed the children of this likelihood. I recall a particularly heartbreaking discussion with one of my daughters during that time.

But then something changed.

I realized that I was looking down into an abyss that threatened to ruin my life, and that I had to do something about it. I knew that I still loved my wife dearly, and that I could not bear to lose her. At first I didn't know what to do. What I did know was that I needed help, not only in terms of my desire to rescue my marriage but also simply in terms of my own life. I was in a sort of spiritual wasteland, and I saw that if I did nothing about it, my life would deteriorate into a meaningless, materialistic emptiness.

Finally, late in the 1980s, it occurred to me that I might find an answer in Christian Science. I had certainly seen ample evidence of its effectiveness in my wife's family and also in the ways my wife had relied on it. She was a devoted Christian Scientist. So I took a step that was the major turning point for me. I arranged a visit with a Christian Science practitioner.

With the practitioner's spiritual guidance, I began to learn that God was always present with me, and that He was good. Most important, I learned that God loved me—a telling point when one has ceased to like even one's self. The practitioner explained to me that we could not necessarily predict whether the outcome of my turning to prayer would resuscitate my marriage—but that we could expect that in turning my life over to God, I would be loved and protected in every practical way.

Early in this period, as I became more receptive to what I was learning about my spiritual identity, I had a defining experience. One night, lying alone in bed (my wife and I still occupied the family home but slept in different rooms), I prayed with all my heart to understand that God was with me and had better things in mind for me.

I then became aware of what I can only describe as a presence. I sensed an unusual light. At first I thought it was the moonlight, but I sat up and looked carefully and realized that this was not the case. I felt absolutely no fear. There was no sound and there were no voices, but it quickly came to me that this was a communication from God—a communication of peace and calmness. As silently as it had come, the light vanished, and I was left to reflect on what it meant. At that moment I knew without a doubt that God did love me, was caring for me at every moment, and that—regardless of the outcome of my immediate problem—everyone's well-being was assured. I lay down again and slept peacefully.

Not long after this, my wife and I got back together. One night she came into the main bedroom, and, wordlessly, we just held each other. We both knew deep down that the difficulty in our marriage was over.

From then on, we seemed to have more in common. Church had always played an important part in Lesley's life, and now it began to play a greater role in my own than it ever had before. In retrospect, it seems obvious to me that my accepting Christian Science would have solved the problems we had been experiencing. The fact that God is Love and loves us is surely a clear indicator that His guidance is the key to human relationships. At a relatively mature state of life, I finally learned how to pray and to communicate with God. In many of my early discussions with the practitioner, I had to realize that—while we could not outline the course of my marriage—we could trust God to see to it that both my wife and I would be loved unfailingly.

This experience, and my entering into the study of Christian Science, fundamentally changed me. The arrogance of my expatriate days has disappeared, and I am aware that I have become more caring than I was before. Church attendance and membership quickly have become an important priority in my life.

For many years now, my wife and I have enjoyed true love and companionship. I actually find it unappealing to go on a business trip without her. One of my great delights is visiting my relatives in England and seeing how much they love and accept her. Our children are grown up now, and they, too, are happy. So far, they've brought five wonderful grandchildren into the family. No one had ever managed to tell me adequately how much fun grand parenting is and what a huge blessing it is. I'm well aware that I could have missed out on the blessings of marriage and family life if I had remained in my spiritual wasteland. There is no doubt in my mind that finding my relationship to God was the key to healing our marriage.