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A ‘divine law career’

An avid student of political science, a young man was certain his future would include a law career and possibly public service. But the more he learned about Christian Science, the more he was drawn to practicing a different kind of law – God’s healing law of goodness.

  • By Thomas Mitchinson

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
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Growing up, I always thought I would be an attorney, possibly with a career in public service. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. I loved reading about various politicians and Supreme Court justices, and admired some of them greatly. In college, I majored in political science and planned on attending law school.

During these years, I was also gaining a great love for Christian Science. A history class I took asked students to make a list of great people throughout history. I found myself thinking, “The greatest man in history, the one I should emulate, is Christ Jesus.” This was quite a revelation to me, and caught me off guard.

What would happen to my law career? I wondered. Then one day I found this passage in the book of Psalms in the Bible: “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day” (119:97).

I knew then that the practice of God’s law, as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus and illuminated in the textbook of Christian Science – “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy – would be my career. I would be a Christian healer, a Christian Science practitioner. In her book “Rudimental Divine Science,” Mrs. Eddy defined Christian Science this way: “As the law of God, the law of good, interpreting and demonstrating the divine Principle and rule of universal harmony” (p. 1).

While I was still in college, every spare minute I had was spent studying Christian Science. After my homework was done, I would study the Bible and Science and Health. During breaks at work, I would read testimonies of healing from The Christian Science Journal and Sentinel. I couldn’t get enough! During this time I also took Primary class instruction with a teacher of Christian Science.

One day there was an opening in an office shared by several Christian Science practitioners. They needed someone to share the rent and take a shift in the office one morning a week. I felt that was my opening into the public practice of Christian Science and signed up.

For over a year, no one called asking for my help, but I loved the quiet time studying Christian Science and growing in my confidence in God’s healing power. After college, I worked in sales full time, but always kept hours in that practitioner office. Gradually, calls for prayer came in, and healings resulted.

I must admit I struggled with pride during this time. Many people couldn’t understand what I was doing and felt I was underemployed. A former professor of mine admonished me to get into law school before I regretted my career path. Friends were already established in high-paying jobs while I was sometimes struggling to make ends meet.

But I was learning the importance of gaining an understanding of my closeness to God, and striving to live a spiritually based life. As my Christian Science practice grew, I asked my employer at the sales job if I could work on a part-time basis. He agreed. After about a year, I felt confident enough in the path I was taking to let the sales job go. When I explained this to my employer, he stated that he thought that was foolish and would not let me go. I was stunned, but admired this man and kept working for him, while praying about my next steps.

A few months later, I received a call from my employer’s wife. She was a student of Christian Science. She said that my employer had been awakened in the middle of the night with acute pain in his hip. The condition was worsening. He was not a student of Christian Science and had always relied on medicine in the past, but he decided to ask me for Christian Science treatment.

We prayed together, and in a few days, the pain disappeared completely. My employer was very grateful, and stated that now he understood why I was choosing this new career. Soon I left his employ, with his blessing.

That was 35 years ago. In the intervening years, I’ve realized that my “divine law career” has been a great public service, making a difference in the lives of other people. I’ve seen divine law heal diseases and problems of every kind. And my financial needs have always been met.

I am so grateful for a career in which we can help those oppressed by fear, sin, and disease to find their freedom through Christian Science, the law of God.

Adapted from an article published in the Sept. 27, 2010, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.

Some more great ideas! To read an interview from the archives of the weekly Christian Science Sentinel on healing racism titled “An Interview: on racial prejudice,” please click through to www.JSH-Online.com. There is no paywall for this content.

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