The most important influences on Emra’s life were her mother, who taught her to pray when confronted with difficulties, and her Christian Science Sunday School. In her teens, when a teacher asked her to speak to a social studies class about her religion, she found the joy that comes from sharing what she understood and had experienced of Mary Baker Eddy’s discovery. She was asked back each year and was always moved by the way students who were skeptical about the subject became interested after hearing her accounts of spiritual healing–her healings of a severed thumb, tonsilitis, swimmer’s ear, bullying, and other difficulties.

However, during college and graduate school she drifted away from church. Her degrees were in Fine Arts and after school she worked for galleries and museums in New York City. Her interest in finding spiritual answers to life’s challenges was rekindled, and she explored a variety of spiritual disciplines in search of answers. This hands-on study of comparative religion helped her understand the universality of the search for spiritual truth but left her with unanswered questions.

She and her husband moved to Taos, New Mexico, where she enjoyed a career in music performance and started a family. After some years of poor health, a sudden spiritual insight led her back to Christian Science and an instantaneous healing of multiple chronic illnesses. This inspired a deeper study of Eddy’s writings which then led to returning to church, taking Christian Science class instruction (a two-week intensive course of study) and shortly after, becoming a full-time Christian Science practitioner.  She says there is nothing more satisfying than seeing divine Truth and Love transform lives and bring healing. She feels deeply blessed to practice and teach Christian Science, contribute to the Christian Science periodicals, serve her branch church, and serve as a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.