Article January 27, 2020 Issue

I fell for a scam, but then learned about true riches

Marilyn Wickstrom

“Congratulations! You have won millions of dollars, a beautiful luxury car, and $10,000 cash.” The words I was hearing over the phone sounded wonderful. Think of all the people my husband and I could help and all the good that would suddenly come into our lives! Believing in this incredibly good fortune, we began to daydream, and our imaginations went into overdrive.

To receive this fabulous, unexpected prize, the only stipulation was that we pay some taxes. So my husband and I sent a check and anxiously waited for the money that would follow, only to be told that we needed to send more money ourselves. The reality began to dawn on us that this whole thing was a big scam. The possibility that we were being used by an illegal operation was devastatingly disappointing, and it was extremely hard to accept that we’d been duped.

We reached out to a Christian Science practitioner, who helped us through prayer. Soon we began to acknowledge that our supply comes from God; we were “rich in spirit” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 518), and as children of infinite divine Love, God, we were filled with love to give. The attraction of the money was a false allurement that we could stand up to. Anything that seemed more important than God in our life was not good, no matter how tempting it appeared to be.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

God makes burdens light