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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.)
About the author
Colette Gilroy lives in Bend, Oregon.

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