Article August 24, 1992 Issue

Finding our true value

God's love for us is a fact that doesn't change. This great love proves how much we're really worth.

Marian Cates

Sometimes we go through experiences that wear us down and leave us feeling unappreciated. I once went through a period when I felt burdened by life. I'd been going through a series of difficult personal and professional experiences that had left me feeling discouraged. One of the ways this unhappiness showed itself was that I put on a lot of weight. My eating habits were erratic, and I felt exhausted much of the time. It took a few years for me to gain complete freedom from this trouble, but through a sustained effort to understand better my relationship with God, I did find renewed joy.

I felt that what I most needed was a clearer sense of who and what I really was. I wanted a secure feeling of identity that came from within and wasn't dependent on events and opinions. Rather than measure my value according to my relationship with others—as my mother's daughter, someone's romantic partner, someone's best friend or rival—or according to career goals, I wanted to find a measure that was independent of human vagaries and social and economic trends. I was looking for a consistent, dependable foundation on which I could base my sense of identity. I turned to Christian Science to find that foundation.

This Science encourages us to reason and pray from the basis of what we know about God. The Bible tells us that He is Spirit, all-powerful, and entirely good. Since God is all-powerful good, we know that He created us for a good purpose and with the innate ability to express that purpose in satisfying ways. And since He is Spirit, He created us spiritually in His image, regardless of appearances to the contrary.

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