Within a two-year span, my marriage failed and my job situation deteriorated to the point where I felt totally worthless. I had relied on God my entire life, and He had always met my needs, but during this time I felt alone and unloved. I was angry and bitter. I thought God had forsaken me.

But even in my agitated mental state of wanting to blame something, I was able to turn to the Bible. I had always enjoyed reading the account of Jacob's son Joseph, who was abruptly separated from his father, endured many trials, and yet always triumphed through his reliance on God. Now the story helped me through this time of deep personal crisis. I was able to draw some helpful analogies between Joseph and myself. Joseph had his faults, but he certainly did not deserve to be thrown into the pit and taken into slavery in Egypt. Yet, even after he was sold as a servant to Potiphar, an officer in Pharaoh's army, he did not act angry, bitter, or surly. On the contrary, the Bible says that because of Joseph's wisdom and trustworthiness, Potiphar made him overseer in his house.

How could Joseph have become so trustworthy when he had been treated so unfairly? The answer is that Joseph always trusted God with his life. Joseph was able to endure under adverse circumstances because he trusted that God was guiding his life, regardless of his human situation. And, as the story tells, even though Joseph spent years as either a servant or a prisoner, he was ultimately freed and able to prevent Egypt and the surrounding countries from suffering the effects of a severe famine.

I reasoned that if Joseph trusted God with his life, I could too. But if I was going to think of myself as a child of God, it would be inconsistent to see myself as alone, bitter, and worthless. In the book of Genesis in the Bible we read, "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." If this statement in the Bible portrays the true, spiritual creation— and Christian Science says it does —then God could not have made loneliness, bitterness, or worthlessness and would never create man subject to these despairing evils. From this I realized that I needed to accept my spiritual identity as a child of God and not allow myself to suffer. God had not forgotten about "poor little me." Rather, a false sense of self had blinded me to God's ever-present care. So, like Joseph, I decided to start living and acting in the light of my relationship with God by bringing out in my character the man God made.

Every day I endeavored to express joy and happiness, to be grateful for all the good in my life instead of dwelling on petty, personal grievances. I soon was able to regain happiness. Not long after this change of thought, I met a wonderful woman, and we were soon married. She, too, was a Christian Scientist, and I explained to her how I had recently struggled with depression and how it had been overcome by continually striving to express joy, happiness, and other God-given qualities. She remarked that the primary reason she had been attracted to me was that I always seemed to be happy and that I expressed qualities she admired and respected. To me, this showed how God meets our needs by spiritualizing our sense of identity, for had I continued to act sullen, depressed, and angry, this wonderful person might never have noticed me.

It was several more months before my job situation improved. The problem appeared to be a personality conflict between the president of the company and me. He seemed always to ignore my advice, which in my arrogance I felt he greatly needed. He finally demoted me and severely questioned my ability, leaving me feeling hurt and defeated. But again I remembered Joseph. The Bible tells us he had been cast into prison by Potiphar because of a false accusation made by Potiphar's wife. Joseph had been cast into a physical prison; I had allowed myself to be cast into a mental prison of defeat and self-doubt.

While Joseph was in prison, he didn't sit and sulk and feel sorry for himself over this injustice. The Bible tells how he was given additional responsibilities, on the basis of his good conduct and leadership ability. Because of the good qualities he expressed, Joseph eventually was freed and went on to ever larger responsibilities. So, I resolved to work my way out of my "prison" by expressing as many good qualities as possible every day. That included recognizing the spiritual nature and integrity of every individual as the child of God and getting my personal pride out of the way.

The Bible had shown me that Joseph always did his best at everything he did; he expressed qualities of God wherever he was, regardless of the human events that had landed him where he was. I resolved to do the same to the best of my ability. I stopped feeling hurt every time one of my ideas was rejected. I praised and applauded others who made good suggestions. Pride lessened and humility increased. As I learned to trust God, I became happier in my work, felt less pressure, and became more confident. My relationship with the president improved to the point where we began to work very well together. He actually ended up recommending me for the same position he had removed me from several months earlier.

Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health, "The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power." The Bible is full of accounts of people whose lives were transformed by understanding that divine Principle, God, wholly governs man's life. And as the story of Joseph shows, no matter how discouraging the situation might be, God is our sure recourse—guarding, guiding, and governing our lives.

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Hebrews 13:20, 21