Some years ago, having been abandoned by my husband, who had gambled away our assets and livelihood, I found myself in dire financial straits, left to fend for myself and our three young children in my newly adopted country. 

Although I had not yet heard of Christian Science, in pondering what to do, I reflected on the Bible story of Elisha asking a destitute woman what she had in her house (see II Kings 4:1–7). I was inspired to put my previously unused bachelor’s degree to use, and soon embarked on a new career, getting a job as a special education teacher for children with severe behavior problems.

The first year was abysmally hard, and every morning before school, I cried and prayed for the strength to last through the day without quitting. My work occasionally required physically restraining students and/or placing them in a time-out room. In my birth country, I had never heard of students needing to be treated this way in order to contain their outbursts. But I needed the job to support my kids.