Our younger child recently graduated from college. Our seats for the graduation ceremony were in almost the exact same place as the seats we’d had for her freshman orientation, reminding me of a life-changing healing I’d had four years earlier.

My parents had paid for my college education, so I believed that it was right for me to pay the expenses for my two kids, who were going to start college one year apart. Each in turn visited campuses, submitted applications, and waited for the acceptances and scholarship offers. During this time, I was trying to grow two businesses and save enough money for eight years of college tuition.  

There I sat in the freshman orientation presentation, feeling the pressure and anxiety of two kids’ college payments crushing me. My heart began to race, murmur, and beat hard, to the point that I had to leave my seat and walk out of the arena. I knew that a medical treatment facility and a Christian Science Reading Room were both not far away and that I was walking toward them both at that moment. At a fork in the road, I decided to go to the Reading Room. The fear was strong, but as a lifelong Christian Scientist, I was used to praying when faced with any difficulty, so I knew this was the right choice for me. The Reading Room attendants welcomed me and, after a brief conversation, invited me to use a back room with a closed door where it was quiet and I could be alone.