Dear Broadview Friends:
One of life’s most beautiful experiences occurs when we perceive a purpose that God has in Mind for us. Mary Baker Eddy described this process eloquently: “Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear.” 1
Broadview has two young participants who are with us exploring Christian Science nursing and God’s purpose for them. They’ve come to us for nine months through a wonderful new program, the Christian Science Nursing Youth Service Corps. As they perform a multitude of tasks, we’re doubly blessed — because their humble efforts to seek, ask, knock2 at the door of divine purpose are providing lessons for us all.
One participant, John Challenger, first visited Broadview years ago when a family member needed care. Now in his mid-20s, he’s returned, saying that he wanted “to see below the surface of Christian Science nursing.”
After taking some introductory Christian Science nursing classes and beginning to rotate among Broadview’s various departments, John got his first glimpse below the surface. He heard a Christian Science nurse encouraging a patient who was reluctant to eat. “Everything on the plate is a gift from God,” she told the patient — echoing the idea from Matthew 7 that our divine Father heaps only goodness on our plates.3 But it wasn’t just her words that John remembers: “I was drawn to the way she spoke. And drawn to her thought. It really moved me — and that’s very rare.”
Our other participant, Tyler Flavin, also talks about his first glimpse below the surface of Christian Science nursing. Post-college, serving as a Christian Science camp counselor, Tyler was searching so intensely for divine direction that he tried spending a night deep in the Maine woods, alone with God. Soon after, a friend suggested that he explore Christian Science nursing. Driving cross-country, still grappling with fear and confusion, Tyler found the Youth Service Corps program that led him to Broadview.
One night, Tyler was passing a patient’s room when he heard a voice raised in distress. After praying about the best approach, he was led to enter the room. As he calmed the patient, she opened up to him. He gently refuted her claim that she was unloved. He read to her and prayed with her until she fell asleep. Then he heard a divine message: “That’s why you’re here.” After humbly asking, seeking, and knocking for what seemed like forever, Tyler was thrilled by this moment of clarity.
Meanwhile, John got into a car accident. It seemed like there wouldn’t be a way to replace his damaged vehicle. He was up against, in his words, “a humanly impossible situation.” Then, remembering the Christian Science nurse’s reference to Matthew 7,4 John chose to focus on our divine Father, the source of all safety and supply. As he dug deeper into that idea, he soon had a new car. “When you apply these Scientific truths,” he explains, “they really do unfold in our lives.”
Upon completion of the program in May, John and Tyler will each receive a Good Samaritan Educational Award of $2,500. Both are on the path to Level 1 Christian Science nursing in the summer. We so appreciate the love they bring to their work, and the inspiration they’re giving to the rest of us as they seek, ask, knock.
At any stage of life, it’s the right time to rediscover and refine our sense of purpose. As Mary Baker Eddy said, “God is responsible for the mission of those whom He has anointed. Those who know no will but His take His hand, and from the night He leads to light.”5
All our love,
Marivic Bay Mabanag
Executive Director
PS If you or a young person you know may be interested in the Christian Science Nursing Youth Service Corps, please check it out. They’re now looking for young people who want to begin in September 2022!
1 Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 506.
2 Matthew 7:7-8 (KJV) (“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”)
3 Matthew 7:9-11 (KJV) (“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”)
4 Matthew 7:9-10 (MSG) (“If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate?”)
5 Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 347.