The Bible was central in Mary Baker Eddy's daily life. From her youngest years, her days were defined by it. Her family would join together in the morning and evening for prayer and readings from Scripture. The Bible's message stirred a seed embedded deep in her heart—an unshakable sense that God is Love. The book of Isaiah states, ". . . unto me [God] every knee shall bow." Isa. 45.23. As Mrs. Eddy matured, every religious idea had to yield to this central tenet: God is Love. The truth of this was proven to her even in childhood. It healed her when she had been ill.
Independent reading of the Scriptures and direct prayer to God were common to Protestants of Mrs. Eddy's day, but by all accounts, her own spiritual nature stood out enough that other people recognized it and began turning to her for spiritual help. Even though she faced trial after trial, she was sustained by the Bible and her steadfast conviction of God's love. It's not too much to say that she survived on the strength she found in the Scriptures.
The first half of Mrs. Eddy's life most likely wouldn't have caught the attention of historians. It was filled with the natural joys and sorrows, the hard work and social life, that were typical of women in New Hampshire during the 1800s. But the record does show that she was a nonconformist. Her father, Mark Baker, held to a stern, rigid Calvinism. And yet, despite the mental force and natural authority her father held over the home, Mary would not yield her innate sense of God's love to his harsher theology. On this point, he could not bend her to his will.
