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I’d love to meet you and cherish your spiritual search! I’m Suzanne Riedel, C.S.B., and I live and teach in the Austin, Texas area. I am guessing we may have some experiences in common . M ine have been varied. My marriage, five children, graduate school, and teaching high school and middle school for 20 years all were proving grounds for what I was learning about God and the great Love we all have.

I have always had a love of healing in Christian Science. My first family stories were of how my grandfather’s immediate conviction of the Science of the Christ healed my uncles and aunts in their moments of great need.

I grew up in Malaga, Spain. My desire to serve others led me to join the Society of Jesus where I was an ordained priest.

I grew up in Denmark in a loving family and was always encouraged to find the truth for myself. In Austria, I became a goldsmith and received a master’s degree at the university of art and industrial design.

I grew up near Boston with parents who loved and lived Christian Science.  But it wasn’t until I struck out on my own and worked overseas that I realized Mrs. Eddy’s revelation was for me too.  On returning home, I joined a branch church and took Primary class instruction.

Having been raised in Christian Science I always expected to become a practitioner. While my path may not have been as quick and direct as it probably has been for others, there were always signposts that I was on the right track.

Christian Science has taken care of my family’s needs for five generations. I used to listen to my German grandmother tell me how God had protected family members during both world wars. These accounts of protection from bombs and Nazi interrogations had the same feeling of authenticity as the Bible accounts of deliverance from lions’ dens and fiery furnaces. Because of that, the Bible always felt approachable to me. Growing up in Colorado, loving hiking and skiing and the mountains, it always felt completely natural to be talking to God and listening for His presence.

As a teen I began to feel a deep intuition about the presence and power of a profoundly loving God, which became increasingly important to me. "How does God know himself and all of his creation?" I wondered.

After graduating from college and law school, I joined the United States Justice Department as a trial lawyer in the Antitrust Division and then as a special Assistant United States Attorney, prosecuting criminal cases from indictment to jury trial to sentencing. From the beginning of my legal career, whenever I went on my own ambition and talents, I would falter.

A used copy of Science and Health , purchased for ten cents at a book fair, was shared with me by a friend while I was a student at Tulane University. At the time, I was struggling to gain a sense of direction and purpose in my life.