Learning to heal the spirit

Suzie Harrison

Her life crashed. She had a failed marriage, no career path, no

resources and two tiny babies.

Some would have been left emotionally bankrupt and turn to

drinking or drugs -- but not Jeanette Smith. She turned toward a

different path to glue the fragile pieces of her life together.

“I really thought it was the end of the line,” Smith said.

Then she turned to the book “Science and Health with Key to the

Scriptures,” by Mary Baker Eddy, a book that she had grown up with.

“I would take one or two thoughts from this book and hang onto

them,” Smith said. “It’s sort of my lifeline and it didn’t happen

over night. It was sort of gentle, then really began to speak to me

in a different way.”

Slowly, she began to find hope and rediscover her purpose and a

new reason to live.

“When you get through these hard times, you realize there’s more,”

Smith said. “I went from being down and out to having a good

marriage, now for 27 years.”

Because this book had such a fantastic affect on her life, Smith

has been reaching out to other people, and will speak at a workshop

on spiritual solutions put on by Diane Hill on Saturday, March 22, in

Costa Mesa.

She had a whole new career doing public speaking that began to

skyrocket. Smith was thrilled to be helping others, and that’s what

she says this workshop does.

“I like to talk to all people,” Smith said. “Everyone’s life is

not perfect, and some may seem to be perfect on the outside, but no

one truly is. Everyone has problems, and because what I’ve been

through, I am finding I am really helping, showing how to pack your

spiritual parachute.”

She feels there are times in life that people feel like they are

free falling, and her work as a spiritual healer is to help them

discover what they know individually -- the truths of the universe.

“I don’t tell them how to think,” Smith said.

Because it is Women’s History Month, she feels her workshop is

extra timely to help those who want help.

Eddy is Smith’s hero. She was a woman of the 1800s who

accomplished a lot in her life after age 40, despite the myriad

obstacles that were in her way. Eddy devoted more than 40 years to

communicating a message of hope, healing and spiritual strength. She

lectured and had many books published. Her first edition of “Science

and Healing” was published in 1875. She also launched the Christian

Science Monitor.

“She focused on the discovery, healing people through the truth of

her own experience,” Smith said.

Eddy won many prestigious awards and has been recognized by

Harvard University and the Women’s National Book Assn.

“People choose their medicine based on what works for them,” Smith

said. “I’ve had all life’s problems in my past, and this book helped

me be a healer of self and others.”

Smith, who is from Orange County, said she looks forward to giving

back to her community.