Hi there, and welcome to the Christian Science Daily Lift.

Today we'll hear from Rebecca Joy Clower from Westboro, Massachusetts.

In high school, I started feeling depressed a lot, and about three years ago,

I was in a situation where I was

feeling very unloved and undervalued. And the issue with depression just became very intense. And I was

feeling actually suicidal at the time. And I contacted a fellow branch church member who was somebody

who I trusted. And I just told him what was going on. and he reminded me of a hymn in the Christian

Science hymnal. I walk with love along the way is how it starts. And there's a line that says,

the joy that none can take away is mine. I walk with love today. And I love that idea. And I was

actually visiting with a friend in New York City at the time and we were walking around and

something came to my thought like, oh, I need to be unhappy about this situation and something that was going on.

And I said, no, I walk with love along the way.

Like, the joy that is mine can't be taken away. It was just so clear. And I just felt for maybe the first time ever, the sort of like internal well of joy and peace that I had never felt before, even if I had a challenging situation come up or a difficult, disappointing situation, I felt like I always had

this bedrock of joy and peace that was there. And it was part of me. God is love and God is spirit,

and we are the loved children of God. And so we are spiritual. We're one with God.

Joy is a quality of God. And just like peace or love or harmony, all of these qualities are

natural to us and they're eternal. And it's right to feel them. And so I really felt it then.

You know, like I knew it sort of intellectually

previously, but now I like really feel it. It's just been so wonderful to like know that that

sense of joy comes from God and so it can't be taken away. At some point I just realized I wasn't

depressed anymore. I was so focused on what was good and true. Thanks for joining us.

We hope you'll join Joy and me on this week's Sentinel Watch podcast.

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