My first semester of college had gone fairly smoothly, and I seemed to be getting along well with my roommates. Even though I had been born and raised in a Christian Scientist family and had always relied on prayer, from the time I had first moved to college I hadn't attended church or read the Bible Lesson.
My roommates were heavily involved with alcohol and drugs. These activities were always the center of their conversations, and were constantly going on around me. I began to think I should get involved in order to be part of the group. Alcohol became a real problem for me, and then I allowed myself to be convinced to take drugs.
While all of this was going on, I remember also feeling very confused and unsure of my choices. One evening while I was under the influence a thought came to me loud and clear: "Hey! I don't really feel much like myself!" At the time, this was not comforting—in fact, I began to feel very afraid that something was terribly wrong. I immediately ran back to my dorm room and pulled my Bible and Science and Health out from under the bed. When my roommates returned, they were, of course, very shocked and surprised at what they saw me reading. They made fun of me and criticized me. I remember feeling like I didn't have a friend in the world. So I went to the one thing that I knew I could count on—God. He was the only power that could carry me through this experience.
