AFTER MY DAUGHTER CHARYS'S healing of depression (see pages 49–50), I began to read Science and Health. At first, I struggled a lot with Mary Baker Eddy's book. I had doubts about Christian Science. When I read some things she wrote, I thought, No, no, no. Coming to understand these things was a process. I had lived for 30 years with a different idea of God through a form of Christianity that emphasized suffering. I felt very far from God. When I prayed, I would cry a sea of tears. I prayed with great suffering.
But as I continued to read the Bible along with Science and Health, these books helped me greatly, and I found freedom from the illnesses I had. I was afraid of everything—even of crossing the street. I suffered from depression and felt too weak at times to walk around my apartment. I felt as though my hands and feet were tied. Everywhere I went I would have to sit down. I had other illnesses that were diagnosed—glaucoma, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and the initial stages of diabetes. I was taking six different medications for my illnesses.
Whenever I read "the scientific statement of being" in the chapter "Recapitulation," it helped me a lot. It says: "There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual" (Science and Health, p. 468). This statement by Mary Baker Eddy fulfilled me and strengthened me with each day.
