HOW I FOUND CHRISTIAN SCIENCE October 11, 2010 Issue

WHOLE AND FREE!

BETTYJO COST—CORONA DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA, US

ON A BEAUTIFUL CALIFORNIA EVENING in the late 1950s, my husband and I were driving through the Hollywood Hills on our way back to our home in Long Beach, when we noticed a well-lit home on a corner. The draperies were wide open, and inside, a man was sitting at his desk. There was a sign on the lawn, which read: Josiah Merriman, Christian Science Practitioner.

As my husband slowed the car, he said, "Let's knock on the door and ask if we can talk to him." My husband had learned of Christian Science healing from his former wife and her parents, and wanted to speak to the practitioner. My husband didn't have a plan to become a Christian Scientist, but he felt that Christian Science could help him stop smoking.

We knocked on the door and were welcomed in. When the practitioner learned of my husband's desire for healing, he invited him into his office while I waited in the reception area. Then, when my husband came back, Mr. Merriman invited me into his office. I had no idea what I was going to say to him, but to my amazement, I began blurting out stored-up pain. I told him that my stepdad had sexually abused me during my childhood, and about how my mother refused to accept what he had done. (During the 1930s and '40s when I was growing up, child abuse wasn't typically discussed, and there was no protection provided by authorities.)

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