For eight years, while our children were all home, we lived in the mountains of Colorado. But after four of our children flew the nest, my husband and I made plans to return to New Mexico where our parents still resided. We were ready to leave the snowy mountains for a desert home, and we wanted to be of help to our parents who still lived in Albuquerque. We assumed it would be an easy move since I had kept my teaching certificate current in New Mexico; however, as it turned out, there were a few challenges to meet.
My husband and I prayed about each aspect of the move. We earnestly wanted to be led by God. Together we read from the chapter on prayer in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science: “Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds” (p. 1).
In Christian Science we learn that God, good, is infinite and that, as His image and likeness, we are never limited or cheated out of good.
One stumbling block involved my husband. He was told it was company policy that if he quit his job he would not be rehired in the new location. This seemed to be a real threat to our financial security, and certainly necessitated me finding a teaching position. But we knew fear was no part of God’s unfoldment for us. God is Love (see Science and Health, p. 302), and we decided to be patient and know that if the move was a right idea it had to bless everyone.
In early June I began looking for possible teacher openings and calling for interviews, but over the course of the summer there was not a single opening. The word was the system was only hiring from within. I would have taught English or speech, but I longed for a high school theater department in which to work, having just helped run a community theater in Durango. One particular school kept coming to my thought, and I cherished the idea of working with its diverse student body.
My husband and I continued to pray. You see, even before we were married we attended Christian Science Sunday School together. There we learned to know God, Father-Mother, as divine Principle and infinite Mind. We learned to see ourselves and all mankind as Her perfect, intelligent creation. Throughout our marriage and raising five children, we had refused to be foiled by any limited material picture. Each challenge became an opportunity to recognize man’s ability as God’s reflection and to prove our God-given dominion over material limitations.
Over the course of our married life, we had often witnessed God as Mind and Principle, as well as Love, in physical healings and in overcoming economic challenges. There were healings of broken bones, seemingly serious diseases, and accidents. Praying about and with our children in these cases, we would establish in thought that a God who is Love, and therefore supremely loving, would never send pain or disabilities to Her children. There had also been several years when there just didn’t seem to be enough money, but bills were paid through consistently acknowledging God as the source of all good. In the Science of Christianity, found in the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy, God is only good and is the Principle of all life—and does not vacillate. So we knew it was right and just to be able to sustain our family, and that we could expect this. In our prayers concerning finances, we consistently reasoned from the basis of the one divine Principle governing and sustaining all, and all our needs were met. Consequently, in our relocation experience, each time we discussed why we desired to move, we still felt it was a right idea and were confident that God would meet our needs.
Sometimes we approach life, and in particular economic concerns, as though life were a limited material condition through which man struggles. In Christian Science we learn that God, good, is infinite and that, as His image and likeness (see Genesis 1:27), we are never limited or cheated out of good. I prayed knowing I could never deprive another person of work, nor could anyone take away the right activity that Love was unfolding for me. In Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy has encouraging words on this issue: “It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony” (p. 390).
We always have the opportunity to bring blessings to ourselves and others because God’s wisdom and guidance are always available to everyone.
In the middle of October, with school already in session I still had no job and my husband had already handed in his resignation. My mother, a Christian Science practitioner, assured me one night: “The job you need, needs you.” I was sleeping in her guest room and on the wall hung a plaque with this Bible quotation: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). I fell asleep assured there was a school needing me.
At 6 a.m. the phone rang. A drama teacher in one of the high schools had suddenly resigned. I was interviewed that morning and taught classes two days later; it just happened to be the very school I had thought about as perfect because of the cultural variety within the student body.
That opportunity led to seventeen years of rewarding challenges and creativity. I had the exciting task of working with architects and construction workers in designing and building a new performing space for the students. The chorus teacher and I presented a musical or two each year. I worked with several supportive administrations, helpful fellow teachers, and a delightful variety of young people.
My husband’s experience was also blessed. That first year we continued to know he would find his right place in our new location. After several months of praying and patient waiting, he was offered a better position with his former company than he’d had previously. It turned out to be rewarding for all concerned.
One of my favorite statements by Mary Baker Eddy is where she reminds us: “Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support the equipoise of that thought-force, which launched the earth in its orbit and said to the proud wave, ‘Thus far and no farther’ ” (Science and Health, p. 124). When we turn to God in prayer, the equipoise of correct, spiritual thought supports us all no matter what the material challenge.
Don’t ever believe that the limited material picture is the reality—it just isn’t! We always have the opportunity to bring blessings to ourselves and others because God’s wisdom and guidance are always available to everyone. Remember desire is prayer, and we all can trust God who is Love to help us mold and exalt those desires that they may be manifested in blessing mankind.
