How I Found Christian Science
The nudge of Love, the voice of Truth
As an adult, I had taken up the practice of meditating regularly. One day in meditation, it came to me that I should sincerely refer to myself as “sweetheart.” I had been condemning myself for doing some chore wrong—it was very minor, but I was being hard on myself nonetheless. In fact, I was typically quite critical of myself, so when the same directive came to me a second time during that same meditation, it felt almost nauseating and impossible to comply with. But when the thought came a third time, I reluctantly complied.
As soon as I addressed myself as “sweetheart” in a genuine way, I had a profound experience: A beautiful, all-encompassing love filled me up, and I felt transcendent. Then these words from the Bible spoke directly to my heart: “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). I was awed and immensely grateful to experience this tender love. I was also aware of another Bible verse in my thought: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). I loved contemplating both of these verses, and for several years after this, I prayed to feel more of the divine truth and love that this inspiring experience had shown me.
A decade earlier, a dear friend and former housemate had gifted me a copy of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Although I knew he’d had healings of health issues and problems in other areas of his life through reading Science and Health, I had politely accepted the little leather-bound book—and then placed it out of reach on the bookshelf. During the years that followed, the textbook survived numerous decluttering efforts. I couldn’t pass the book along to someone else, but it didn’t seem that I was ever going to read it, either.
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