I FELT MY LIFE was going in circles. For years I had been smoking up to 30 cigarettes daily. I was also using marijuana. In addition, I had been in and out of relationships that caused me (and others) a lot of unhappiness. I had lost all interest in my law studies and was ready to quit college.

I had a great desire to find a fresh perspective on my life. Something just had to happen, I told myself. I wanted to find real freedom. And in desperation, I started on a quest, and studied many different spiritual books and paths. I found some helpful ideas that stimulated me and gave me hope. But I kept looking for more.

Then a friend gave me the book Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. My friend told me she had grown up with this book and that it had brought her many healings. It described spiritual laws of Truth, Life, and Love. She said, "As a law student, you are familiar with laws, so why don't you give these spiritual laws a try and apply them to your life?"

I opened the book, and I read Jesus' words "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (p. iii). What was this truth and the freedom that came from it? I wanted to know. And I started reading in search of the answer.

Some passages pointed the way. I learned that "man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique" (p. 475), and that "man is not a material habitation for Soul; he is himself spiritual" (p. 477). Those were totally new ideas for me. That I should be spiritual, though not in some esoteric way, and not material at all, was intriguing to me. I felt I had found the answer I was looking for.

Through the study of Christian Science, I obtained a new basis for living. I realized that I could stop looking for causes to explain my difficulties. Instead I could think from the standpoint of the completeness of God's creation to solve them. I felt a new freedom and joy. All the desire for marijuana and cigarettes just left me. This freedom was accompanied by a feeling of ease, joy, and calm, which has remained with me ever since. I loved the idea of God being like the sun and each one of us like the rays of the sun, having a direct connection with our divine source (see Science and Health, p. 361). I began to understand how we are all connected through God. And as I better understood my own relationship with God, my relationships with others improved.

My gratitude for my own healing and freedom was so great that I felt I couldn't keep this joy to myself, but had to share it. Soon, I found that others were interested and asked me if I could help them. Meanwhile, I passed my law exams and started working as an attorney. I also decided to take Primary class instruction in Christian Science. Through the healings I and others experienced, my understanding and trust in the higher spiritual law, which is the basis of life, grew, and I soon realized that it was my heart's desire to help others on this path of freedom.

My family, especially my mother who had worked hard to enable my law school education, was at first skeptical about my plans to follow this spiritual path. I myself wondered how I would be able to earn my livelihood and if it wasn't wise to continue working in my field and become more accomplished in it. But I felt a deep connection with God and trusted that everything would come about at the right time. I also acknowledged that God was the source of my supply and that my desire to become a healer did not come from myself, but was in God's plan. That constantly gave me reassurance.

At first, I set aside some hours after work for giving spiritual help to others. But, finally, even my mother had to acknowledge that this was the work that really made me happy. So after working for three years as a tax lawyer, I gave up my job to devote myself completely to the application of spiritual laws. I have now been in the full-time practice of Christian Science healing for over five years. And I feel blessed to help share with other people this liberating truth promised by Jesus.