My latest article published in the Christian Science Monitor.

A few years ago, a friend of mine needed refuge from domestic abuse. She’d had the courage to leave the imprisoning situation that had become untenable, but now she was looking to actually heal the fear and hurt.

Emma, who doesn’t want her real name used, had been a student of the Bible for most of her life. It felt natural for her to turn to some of the scriptural stories of people released from prisons – some physical, some mental – who had been helped and healed. One verse that meant a lot to her was from the prophet Isaiah: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you” (66:13, Common English Bible).

Emma said she was also inspired by the idea that we are all made in God’s spiritual image, and by the promise that everything in creation (including her) was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). She began to glimpse that her identity was not worthless, as she’d been led to believe, but that she was the actual spiritual creation of God, which the Divine saw as “very good”!

This helped her gain a deep sense of being loved, that she was not alone, and that she was cared for. The comforting idea of God’s Mother-love began to feel very real to her. She found it also in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science and founder of this news organization, who wrote, “Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 332). This gave her a very natural sense of being embraced by divine Love.

Emma found a deeper sense of worth and freedom from fear, which has continued to this day.

God’s comforting, healing presence is here at all times, for everyone. The light of divine Love leads to comfort and safety.