My introduction to Christian Science came at a time of great mental stress brought on by jealousy, deceit, and fear, which resulted in a form of nervous breakdown. I was living at the home of friends, one of whom was a devoted Christian Scientist. Without any previous interest in the subject, I was impelled one day to pick up the textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, which I commenced to read. Within a week's time I had read the textbook through and experienced a liberation of thought which lifted me not only from many of the symptoms of my difficulty, such as extreme fear and weakness, but also from other bonds and limitations which had bound me for years.
For example, I had experienced a growing sense of extreme shyness and inferiority as well as self-consciousness to such a degree that when called upon in class while attending college and graduate school, I would many times answer incorrectly, although knowing the right answer.
While these erroneous conditions did not disappear immediately, they were much improved upon my completing the reading of the textbook. There followed many months of intensive study to overcome entirely the intermittent periods of fear and nervousness which recurred. One of the thoughts most helpful to me during this time was the following statement of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" (pp. 149, 150): "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance."
