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Au pair ad led to answers
I grew up in France. I had always loved school and dreamed of becoming a teacher, but that dream seemed over when my mother took me out of school at age 15 to work in a factory. After a year there, wanting to become fluent in English, I answered an au pair ad in the London Times to work on a family farm in England and was accepted.
The family worked out a date for me to arrive. When I got there, however, the family was surprised to see me and said that they had hired someone else in the meantime. They told me I had time to catch a boat back to France that evening. I responded by sitting down on a bench, telling them that what they did to me was improper and that it was up to them to find me another job! At that moment I was surprised at myself—at the age of 16, in a foreign country, with my incomplete grasp of the language, managing to be so firm and so clear with those adults. This was different from teenage rebellion. Even though I had no real knowledge of the Bible at that time, I believe I was guided instinctively to be obedient to God’s command, much like this one Moses heard: “I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say” (Exodus 4:12).
The family made a number of calls to people in the area and at last found another family that would be able to take me in, but only for a few days. As we drove to the new family’s home, I was told that I must be careful how I talked to them because they adhered to an unusual religion called Christian Science. I was able to stay with the new family for three weeks rather than just a few days, and later returned to be with them for an extended stay. The mother in this family was a Christian Science practitioner, and I had a healing of an infected hand through prayer, with this woman’s loving support. (My first healings in Christian Science were recounted in The Christian Science Journal, September 1986.)
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February 18, 2013 issue
View Issue-
Letters
JSH-Online comment, Linda Eysenbach, Anne Holway Higgins, Joyce McClure and Gayle Steinmetz
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To end all wars
Michael Pabst
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Clearing 'hurdles' with God
Wallace Wethe
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'Mightier than the noise of many waters'
Fernand Feig
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Accepting a greater love
Juli Vice
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Mary Baker Eddy and Abraham Lincoln
Judy Huenneke
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Apology accepted
Madora Kibbe
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God's saving wisdom
Ann Edwards
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Au pair ad led to answers
Colette Gilroy
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What got me started
Karenlee Mannerino
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Kids ask...
Answer offered by Chet Manchester
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Diagnosed lung cancer healed
Troy Noonan
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Severe chest pain overcome
Cindy Snowden
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Several generations of healing
John H. M. Whitaker
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No more alcohol
Dorothy Davis with contributions from Tom Davis
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Build the economy on Truth
The Editors