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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.

The healing practice of Christian Science was close to my heart early on, but it was 12 years into my legal career when I realized this was really my calling. As it happened, I was speaking with two clients about their case, and although a legal solution seemed clear, I felt compelled, instead, to pray.

Since childhood, I felt on a quest for understanding truth. I spent summers voraciously reading book after book to solve the mystery of the meaning of my life and the world.

As a young adult, I would have identified myself as Christian, spiritual and non-religious. I am not sure if I found Christian Science or Christian Science found me.

In Junior High School my girlfriend asked my religion. I finally “confessed” to being a Christian Scientist.

I live in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, with my wife, two daughters, a son, and nine grandchildren. I ran across Christian Science at college at a time when I was starting to doubt the usefulness of religion in life, after having attended a Christian denomination since childhood.

I learned of Christian Science in my middle teens. Our family came to it through a “miraculous” healing of a relative. I tested it, and was amazed at the consistent results. The Science proved to be genuinely scientific. Its practice became the basis of my studies and early career. That career took some radically different zigs and zags. From research director at an international relations and mediation institute in Italy, to labor organizer in New England, to foundation director, to university professor, to peace and civil rights activist, to founding an anti-racism project which was the basis of the YWCA “Social Justice Award”. The focus, the common denominator of these careers, was solving problems.

My parents were Christian Scientists, and I had the great benefit of Sunday School teaching, and learning that God is always present to meet the need—always our “first aid.” When I married and had children, they were bought up in the same way, with my husband’s agreement, and I saw what a boon it was to be able to turn to God as the only Father/Mother. When I joined a branch church, I was asked to work in various positions and realised that if I were to be of help to the Church, I needed to progress in Christian Science, so I took class Instruction and was then appointed First Reader. To my surprise, people came to me for healing treatment. This impelled me to advertise as a full-time Journal -listed practitioner.

God’s love is for everyone, and a Christian Science lecture is a perfect setting to learn about God’s love and the healing that it brings.James has seen the healing effects of God’s love since he was a youngster, romping through the woods around his home with his three brothers. They had their share of scrapes and bruises which were quickly healed through prayer.

I grew up in an ecumenical household, with one parent practicing Christian Science and the other active in another Christian denomination. For many years, I alternated in attending the Sunday Schools of these two churches. And while I deeply appreciated the kindness and love of both congregations, I was ultimately drawn to how Christian Science showed me that God was knowable and ever-present, and that prayer was practical and effective in resolving whatever difficulties we face. College provided me with many opportunities to test the reliability of spiritual healing in Christian Science, and I found it fully freed me from contagious illnesses, sports injuries, and recurrent depression. It also helped me navigate through the moral complexities of a secular culture, allowing me to live joyfully independent of peer pressures.