Forty years ago, my landlady—who became my best friend—introduced me to Christian Science. 

At the time, I was in my twenties and experiencing trauma stemming from the inappropriate actions during my childhood of an adult I didn’t know. I found that I could tell my landlady what was haunting me. One time after we spoke, she gave me a hug and shared with me this promise from the Bible: “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25). That comforted me. And as I began to learn about Christian Science, I felt I had come home.

I had been living in my landlady’s home for only a short while when I heard her beautiful singing voice one Sunday morning. I came partway down the stairs and saw her illuminated in sunlight shining through the front doorway. I asked her what church she belonged to, and she said, “The Christian Science church.” I remembered that when I was a teenager, the bus I often took stopped right outside a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. But I didn’t know anything about it.