When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me a pendant that had been hers as a teenager. As I grew up, I always remembered the tiny mustard seed that was suspended within it.

Although I had grown up going to Sunday School in a Protestant church, I was not familiar with Jesus’ words: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matthew 17:20). Since the pendant’s hole for a chain was too tiny for it to be slipped onto any necklace I owned, I put the piece of jewelry into a small box in my closet and forgot about it for many years.

In college, my best friend was a Christian Scientist, and I occasionally went to church with her and her mother. When I lived with them one summer, I began reading articles from the Sentinel as we sat by the pool. One issue I found particularly helpful contained several articles addressing praying spiritually about body weight. I had gained some weight in college, overeating because of the sadness I felt at my dad’s death the previous year. I read that issue over and over until the pages were smeared and crinkled from suntan lotion and pool water.

I could not really explain the change that was taking place in my thinking about body image, but I knew I was benefiting from ideas such as this from Hebrews: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (12:1). I began to gain power over the desire to overeat and the fear that I was not exercising enough to burn calories as fast as I wanted to. I was not specifically trying to become a Christian Scientist at this point; all I knew was that I liked what I was reading. It made sense to me, and I always felt better after I read some articles.

It was that summer that I ran across a reference to Jesus’ words about the mustard seed. My dear grandmother, with whom I’d had a special relationship, had recently passed away, and I found it comforting to discover the significance of the pendant she had given me.

I also enjoyed reading Sentinel articles about employment and the daily religious articles in The Christian Science Monitor. Finding employment seemed to be an impossible task, as I was applying for teaching jobs without having my teaching credentials in hand. I was attending summer school in order to graduate, and although I had excellent grades and positive reviews from student teaching, I would not have my diploma until a few days prior to the start of the school year.

Three weeks after returning job applications to several school districts, I received a phone call inviting me for a job interview about thirty miles away. My friend and her mother shared with me some specific ideas to pray with as I prepared for the interview, one of which was to think of my employment as reflecting God. They also recommended an article called “God’s Law of Adjustment” by Adam H. Dickey. I remember feeling my fear lift as I read: “This law of adjustment is the universal law of Love, which bestows its blessings on all alike. It does not take from one and give to another. It does not withhold itself under any circumstances, but is ready and waiting to operate as soon as the invitation is given and human will is set aside” (The Christian Science Journal, January 1916).

I went off to my interview feeling calm and confident, and I was truly jubilant when the principal offered me the job at the end of my interview. The overcast sky and the drizzling rain that had started did not cloud my excitement as I drove home.

The highway I took had three lanes, and I was in the fast lane. I was not concerned about my speed or the slick pavement, since there was no other midday traffic except for an eighteen-wheeler that was two lanes over in the slow lane. As I rapidly approached the truck, there was a long concrete support wall for a farm road overpass on my left, and some orange construction cones were gradually closing the right-hand lane in which the truck was traveling. I had not slowed down since I was still in the far left lane and expected the truck to move over only as far as the middle lane. Suddenly, however, the truck cut over two lanes into my lane. 

Earlier, I had been so grateful and had said, “Thank you,” out loud to God for answering my prayers about employment. Now I reached out to Him audibly again with urgent need for direction. I closed my eyes as I slammed my foot on the brake. I could not maneuver onto the median because of the concrete overpass wall.

I do not know how long my eyes were closed, but I sensed total silence. It seemed as if my eyes had been squeezed shut a long time. When I opened them, I found that I was safely through the concrete underpass, and my car was spinning rapidly in the grassy median. My foot was still jammed to the floor on the brake pedal, so I released the pedal and turned the steering wheel toward the appropriate side of the highway; I drove calmly home at a normal speed.

When I arrived home, my friends rejoiced at my job offer and, regarding the incident on the highway, told me that I had just experienced a healing. My friend’s mother lovingly reminded me of our discussions prior to the interview of the fact that, as it says in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, “God is at once the centre and circumference of being” (pp. 203–204). This experience was a turning point for me; I knew I wanted to be a Christian Scientist.

That next week when I graduated, my friend’s mother gave me some pretty sheets for my first apartment and, more importantly, a set of books—the Bible and Science and Health in a zippered carrying case with the current issue of the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons tucked inside. I began studying the weekly Bible Lesson as soon as I moved into my apartment.

Since then, I have become a member of The Mother Church and, at different times, of several branch Churches of Christ, Scientist. I have experienced various physical healings, as well as progress in my career, safety in dark parking lots, and harmonious travel.

I am grateful for the Bible, the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, and the Christian Science periodicals, all of which can help bring healing, safety, and harmony—even if one’s faith seems as small as a mustard seed.