Christian Science was very helpful to me in a legal case a few years ago. A relative who passed away had named my brother, my sister, and me in his will as primary beneficiaries of his estate. The will seemed very clear, and it was not contested, so it was a surprise shortly before the final distribution of the estate when the judge proposed a ruling that would distribute the estate in a way entirely different from what we understood to be the intent of our relative. The judge cited a technicality in the way the will was written.
Several attorneys were consulted. All of them recommended accepting the judge's proposed ruling, as they could see no way to surmount the technicality, even though all agreed the ruling went against the wishes of the owner of the estate. At this time I consulted another attorney I knew. He took a firm stand against the judge's proposed ruling, as he said it clearly altered the intent of the deceased. He felt that there must be an answer. Without any visible evidence to support his case, he thoughtfully entered into legal research.
Meanwhile, each family member prayed for a just decision. I knew it would be wrong to pray for a particular outcome of the case, so I prayed to gain a better understanding of my true, spiritual inheritance. I looked up references to such words as inheritance, estate, heir, and justice in the Bible and in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. Over a period of several weeks I gained a clear understanding that man's true estate is spiritual, that it is from God and consists of the spiritual qualities that man reflects now and forever. I knew that no person or situation could ever deprive me of this estate or diminish it. One of the many stirring quotations I found in the Bible is from Psalms (16:5): "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot."
