Sometimes human beings have to be driven through ill-health or other misfortunes to seek help in God. When they have at last found the pearl of great price, they wonder how they could live without it. This was true in my case many years ago. I had married a man with a family of five grown children. My husband was a man of fine character, and I was confident that with his help I could take over the responsibilities of his large household. When a daughter of my own arrived, I became burdened by the activities of home and church, but was happy in my own way and had many friends. Then my husband passed on. Soon afterward his business went into bankruptcy, and I realized that I had built my house on sand. Fears and worries were with me day and night, and I wondered what I could do at my age. In a few months my health had suffered so much that I had to ask for medical help. After being treated by several doctors, none of whom could help me, I was told by one of them that I was going insane. My mental condition was indescribable, and I preferred death.
A guest at the hotel in which I lived noticed my condition and tried to help me by taking me on walks through the park. One Sunday evening, while walking with her, I felt tired and depressed. She suggested that we take a rest, so we entered a Christian Science church near by. On hearing the lovely voice of the soloist telling of God's care of the lilies, I felt a peculiar bitterness within me melt away, and I broke down, weeping.
The peaceful surroundings gave me new courage to live, and I was led to a practitioner who helped me find the way to real Life and to a better understanding of God and of Christ Jesus and his teachings. Gradually the nervous condition disappeared, and I became normal.
