Article June 3, 2019 Issue

Facing fear of the unknown

Joy Booth

“Who are you?”

That’s not the question you might expect as you’re leaving the house for school. But it was one my mom asked me every day during my growing-up years. And I knew the answer. It didn’t have to do with certain character traits, or my interests, or what I’d like to be when I grew up. I’d learned from attending the Christian Science Sunday School and from the healings I’d had that I could identify myself spiritually—as God’s child. And this consistent reinforcement of my relation to God has been a strong foundation throughout my life, allowing me to move forward with little or no fear, even when I’ve faced uncertainty or the utterly unknown.

What does it mean to be God’s child? It’s helped me to recognize that, in this case, to understand the child, you have to understand the parent—our divine Parent, God. Over the years, I’ve loved learning more about God from the Bible and the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Early on, I trusted what the Bible says about God in Psalms: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (23:1). Later, I became familiar with Mrs. Eddy’s interpretation of this psalm, in which she describes divine Love as the Shepherd. Knowing that God, Love, is always loving us and wisely shepherding us is such a reassuring feeling when we’re hit with something unexpected.

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