With the vast array of information, advice, and therapies available today, some might wonder why anyone would choose to turn to God in times of need. A compelling answer comes from the experience of Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science and its healing method. She wrote that the prelude to her discovery was a deep desire from childhood “to seek diligently for the knowledge of God as the one great and ever-present relief from human woe” (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 31).

Over many years, her search led her to delve deeply into the Bible to learn from the example of Christ Jesus, who knew God as his Father—“our Father,” as he began the Lord’s Prayer—and who declared, with profound understanding, that “this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

Jesus knew his Father, God, as Spirit, as ever-present, ever-active, limitless good, the source and substance of life—in fact, as Life itself, entirely apart from a material sense of existence.