There are endless websites and books that espouse different approaches to leading a healthier, happier, and fuller life. But while I have found some interesting ideas in self-help resources, the impact tends to be limited. Instead, I’ve discovered the best resources for expanding my vision, setting high goals, being productive, and feeling hopeful are the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. The ideas and inspiration I get from these books work. The results last. The outcomes are reliable, life-changing, and permanent.

When I was a young adult, I experienced periods of depression and a general expectation that, even if things seemed to be going well, something bad was going to happen soon. Although I was successful in my job, I was taking medications for depression, allergies, stomach problems, and a host of other ailments. I often felt inadequate and incomplete. None of the medications or other strategies that I was using changed my health or lifted me out of the mental and emotional bondage.

After being in this condition for a number of years, I worked on a volunteer community project with a woman who was unusually happy and confident, and who had a whole different way of approaching physical, emotional, financial, and personal challenges. One day at a party, she casually shared with me that she was a Christian—a Christian Scientist—and that through this practice she had a reliable form of health care, a source of ideas for her personal and professional life, and a solid foundation for growth and abundant living.

To say that I was skeptical and highly critical would be a huge understatement. I couldn’t believe that anyone could be relieved, let alone fully healed, of the depression, physical challenges, and other things I was facing. I knew a little bit about the Bible from my time in Sunday School when I was young, but at that point in my life I wasn’t practicing—or even very interested in—any religion. I started asking questions, and we didn’t stop talking until late that night. In spite of my skepticism, while talking with her I noticed a change in my thinking. I began to feel some hope that maybe there was a solution to my troubles beyond just coping. My friend’s explanations of how prayer heals and how God’s government works made sense to me. And she shared many examples from her life, and from others’ experiences, explaining how all sorts of problems had been overcome through prayer.

The overarching ideas that stayed with me after that conversation were that God was good; that I, as His loved child, was good; and that I didn’t have to settle for less than good in my life. My friend told me that God was actually knowable, as the Bible says. Getting to know God, divine good, through reading two books, the Bible and Science and Health, would not only help me but heal me.

Getting to know God, divine good, through reading two books, the Bible and Science and Health, would not only help me but heal me.

I attended a Christian Science church service with her the following evening, and felt such a sense of love and acceptance. Later that day, she loaned me a copy of these two books with the promise that there were answers in them, better than the answers I had tried. I began to study the Bible and Science and Health over the next few weeks. To be honest, they didn’t make much sense at first, but I still thought there was something there for me—something I had always, wordlessly, hoped was true. I began to feel more joyful, quietly sensing the fact that God knew me, was near, and was good, and that these facts had bearing on my life. The physical problems and the feelings of depression began to recede as I read and learned more about Christian Science.

A couple of weeks later, I went to the psychiatrist I had been seeing, who had prescribed an antidepressant medication. During our meeting I told him, “I don’t think I need to see you anymore.” I explained that I had learned about Christian Science and had been seeing progress as a result. He responded: “That’s wonderful! I’ve had other patients who have found Christian Science, too. But don’t stop taking the antidepressants.” He went on to describe various withdrawal symptoms. With a delighted laugh, I explained to him that I had stopped taking them about two weeks earlier, and hadn’t suffered any negative effects at all. He just smiled. That night, without hesitation, I got rid of a whole shelf of medicine—grateful that I wouldn’t need it anymore.

That was a number of years ago, and I have never been disappointed with the healing results I have gotten reading the Bible and Science and Health. I worked that summer at a Christian Science youth camp, and in the fall my application to join The Mother Church was approved. The next year, I took Christian Science Primary class instruction. I stopped settling for less, for just coping, and began experiencing so much more of what Life is. I will always be grateful to that friend for sharing these books and her practice of Christian Science with me.