AS A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE Sunday School student back in the late '80s, I became close friends with one of my peers and later developed a special romantic interest in her. While she attended an out-of-state college, we wrote each other letters and spoke often on the phone. When she would come home for summers and winter breaks, we had the opportunity to date regularly. I really liked this girl—she was smart, funny, enthusiastic, pure, and cute. Though I'd dated other girls before, the love I felt for her was unmatched.

As we continued to date over nearly 16 months, it gradually became apparent that she did not feel as strongly for me as I did for her. But because my love for her was so deep, I continued seeing her. During this time, she had just started her senior year of college, and I remember thinking, "Once she finishes school, I won't have any more potential boyfriend competition." But while she was finishing her last academic quarter, she called to inform me she'd met someone else.

I remember feeling completely devastated, lost, and depressed. I earnestly turned to God for comfort, but all I could think was that the love of my life was gone. She ended up marrying that man, and I initially felt quite a bit of ill will toward him.

During the next ten years, as I continued to study Christian Science, I was learning that God is our only real and lasting source of happiness, love, and security. Yet in spite of this understanding, and even though I'd begun dating again, I still felt burdened with a sense of loss and feelings of depression. I also struggled to genuinely love her husband. While my feelings for her and the animosity harbored toward him faded over time, I knew they weren't healed at the root.

As I was earnestly striving to find peace, I took comfort from the following passage in Science and Health:" ... 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established" (p. 467).

I began making Christian Science a greater foundation in my daily life, and started to realize that my indestructible relationship with God was the only sure way to harmony, joy, and peace. I also became a member of the local Christian Science branch church, which I was attending.

Then, while serving as Sunday School Superintendent, I registered to attend a Christian Science Sunday School workshop in British Columbia. While I was really looking forward to this workshop, my interest stalled when I found out that this man whom I'd been struggling to love for all these years would also be attending. I began coming up with all kinds of excuses as to why I wasn't able to attend the seminar.

After I humbly listened and prayed for an answer, the thought came to me that my motive for attending was based on love—I wanted to better serve the Sunday School—and that God, divine Love, would be guiding my experience at the workshop.

When I arrived at the seminar, somehow I ended up sitting in the front row, center, which put me within a few feet of this man (he was a member of a panel presentation). As the day progressed, I listened more openly as he expressed his interest in Sunday School, and I felt the sense of animosity I'd held toward him just peel away. It was a transformation; all I could feel was genuine love for him.

After leaving the seminar and driving back home that evening, I vividly remember feeling the long-standing emotional difficulty just completely wash away, and saying to myself, "It's all gone, and you've just had your healing." Even today, every time I think of this guy, my thought is totally immersed in love, and all I can think about is how much I respect him. Since then, I've enjoyed a loving friendship with this couple.

As I reflect back on this spiritually progressive day, I am reminded of the following passage: "Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way. Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action" (Science and Health, p. 454).

One of the most important lessons I had to learn was not to be tricked into believing that a misinformed view about a relationship or another person had power over me, and that nothing could prevent this man and me from sharing real joy. When the false sense of reality finally evaporated, it was then that I could clearly see that God's love was in full operation. Love is all there is—and that heals! CSS