I found much more than a job

In 1995, I had been working as a guitar teacher and musician for a little while, and my earnings were still modest. I was about to begin several months’ training for guitar teachers, which would take place a few days per week. Though I had financial assistance for part of the training, I needed to pay for the rest myself. 

I thought it would be helpful to get a part-time job to earn additional income while my music activities were growing. However, I could work only evenings or weekend days to leave my weekdays free for training and teaching, and the job would have to be in a field corresponding to my skills and experience. Finding such a position would not be easy. I went to the local employment agency several times without finding anything suitable. I was becoming anxious. 

Addressing issues through prayer in Christian Science was still a bit new to me, but that’s how I decided to approach this situation. One day, as I was praying and reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, this sentence caught my attention: “Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, involves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, reality” (p. 298). This made a lot of sense to me. I felt inspired with a deep trust that God was in charge and that all was well. Anxiety vanished. 

I felt inspired with a deep trust that God was in charge and that all was well.

The idea came to go again to the employment agency. When I got there, I felt led to an area where social work jobs were posted. Almost immediately I noticed an ad for a part-time position during non-office hours as a kind of security person in a homeless shelter. Security was not my field, but I had an intuition that the wording of the ad was not completely accurate and that there was another side to the job that was more about taking care of people. When I called the manager of the shelter, he confirmed that there had been a mistake in the ad. We agreed on a time for an interview. 

I mentioned my job application to a friend who was a social worker, and she exclaimed, “I have been on the board of that shelter, and I know the manager. I can talk to him, and you will get the job straightaway!” I was amazed, but I took a moment to think about this. Then, having faith that the hiring process was in God’s hands and did not need human help, I thanked my friend but did not accept her offer. I shared my reason with her, and she understood perfectly. I kept on praying and pondering that statement from Science and Health.

A few days later, I met with the manager of the shelter. The interview went well, and I got the position—a mix of counselor and watchman a few evenings a week and sometimes on a weekend day. My role was to provide a helpful and friendly presence to the residents, while also making sure that the shelter’s rules were respected. This fit harmoniously with my music activities, and the shelter was a short trip from my home and very near to the train station. I was very grateful that understanding and trusting God had led to my finding this opportunity so effortlessly! I enjoyed the position for the next two and a half years, until the income from my music activities had become sufficient to support me. 

Besides the financial boost, this job gave me an opportunity to help homeless people, which I appreciated. It also inspired me to dig deeper in my study of Christian Science and to get more involved in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. Indeed, the residents of the shelter often had problems related to drugs, behavior, and violence. So, to help these people and to ensure my own safety, I got into the habit of turning to God and using The Herald of Christian Science for inspiration. Regular church attendance helped me find fresh spiritual vision. After a demanding shift at the shelter, going to church was like getting a spiritual cleanup. I came to deeply appreciate the services and meetings, and eventually became a member of that branch church in Paris, as well as a member of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston.

In the light of spiritual progress, I see that what had looked like a dead end was actually a false mental image, not a reality. Through spiritual understanding gained from that sentence in Science and Health quoted earlier, my limited, matter-based view yielded to a spiritual sense of ever-present harmony, and the solution to my problem quickly followed. I understand now that there is never any hopeless situation, because in God “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Infinite Mind, God, always includes all we need. 

I am very grateful to Christian Science for making clear the practicality of spiritual ideas.