I have always been inspired by Mary Baker Eddy’s life, but I felt the impact of it on mine most vividly a couple of years ago. I had volunteered to substitute for the person who usually worked in the Christian Science Reading Room that day, and had looked forward to praying for the needs of the community and meeting people who came in.
It was quiet there, but what was usually a comforting peace instead felt very empty. In fact, my life right then felt very empty, since my husband’s passing some two years before. I had worked through much of the grief with the help of Christian Science and the prayers of two stalwart Christian Science practitioners at different times. But now, with the business details of his passing largely finished, the future loomed empty and purposeless.
I started to cry, and hoped no one would come in at that moment. I declared that God was with me, and as I looked up, the display in the our window caught my eye. The librarian of our Reading Room had reused a display from a few years before. It was one with a large photo of Mrs. Eddy and the words, “This woman never gave up.”
