Words cannot describe how it felt to be depressed every waking hour. I suffered anxiety, inferiority, loneliness, and guilt; also, I was a compulsive pleaser, cried a lot, and wallowed in self-pity. No matter what was going on, I never felt joy. This was an acute difficulty for a number of years.
I didn't discuss this with anyone; my mother had spent many years in a mental institution, and I had suffered shame over this and was afraid that my husband and family would think I had inherited her condition. I so longed for the deeper happiness Mrs. Eddy talks about in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health.
About four years before this trouble had become evident, I had become a student of Christian Science after I was quickly healed of a longstanding condition of arthritis that had been diagnosed as incurable. Thereafter, I faithfully did daily prayerful work and had class instruction in Christian Science. Furthermore, I experienced many healings, even during the period of depression.
