It is wonderful to know that God is here and with us every moment. Last year, I was walking downtown doing a few errands. I remember giving some thought to the presence of God in my life and wondering how I could see or understand more of His presence. As I crossed a street on the green walk signal, I suddenly stopped in the middle of the intersection, for no apparent reason. A split second later, a car sped by in front of me, missing me by inches. I caught my breath, and thanked God for being there with me. God is always present. He never leaves us. It reminded me of where the Bible says, “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?” (Jer. 23:23).
Another time, I was getting into the car and slammed the door on my hand. It hurt, but I realized I had a choice to make. I could either suffer for this or turn to God for help. I thought about how, if God was always present and active in my life, then nothing else could be going on. I understood, in fact, that in God’s wholly spiritual universe this never could have happened at all. Mrs. Eddy writes, “Accidents are unknown to God, or immortal Mind, and we must leave the mortal basis of belief and unite with the one Mind . . .” (Science and Health, p. 424). If an accident is simply not known to God, it couldn’t be known to me as God’s child. Then, there could be no effects to accidents either, such as pain or injury. I held to these thoughts for a few minutes and continued on my drive. The pain ceased, and there was no evidence that anything had happened to my hand.
These two experiences have shown me the truth of Mrs. Eddy’s statement “God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power” (ibid., p. 473).
