I first started reading Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy about twelve years ago. I wish I could find the words to express the wonder and gratitude which well up in me when I consider the changes which have come into my life since that time. The most important one is that my life now has direction and purpose. These changes are solely the result of a changed thought. Truly "with God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27).
I was one of a very large family and grew up on a very unprosperous farm during a period of economic depression. More than this, I never seemed to fit in with my family, and I always felt unloved, unlovable, insecure, and a black cloud of depression and discouragement seemed always to hang over our home. I had to leave home when I was fifteen to go to work, and somehow I managed to get through high school by working in the evenings and on Saturdays. Soon after high school I made a rather unfortunate marriage, which ended in divorce three years later, and I was left with a baby daughter to rear. The world looked like a pretty bleak place. I found myself thinking, "What is the use of anything?" I would lie in bed at night crying out in my despair, "O God, if You exist, show me there is something more than this to life!"
Some time later, about a couple of years after my divorce, I found a copy of Science and Health stored in some of my things and started reading it. In the meantime, when I had found it necessary to support myself and my daughter, I had taken a position as a waitress in an establishment where I had worked during my high school years. It had occasionally occurred to me that it would be nice to work in an office; but I always felt I did not have the ability, and besides it was easier and required less effort to stay right where I was.
