Three years ago, my husband and I became parents. Like most parents who are preparing for the arrival of their first child, everything in our experience was new, from having to decide on the baby items we would need, to doing all the organizational things necessary to get ready for a newborn. As Christian Scientists, we turned wholeheartedly to God for guidance during this time. While family and friends were giving us loving support and we got helpful and practical advice from different parenting books, we felt that all this could never replace the God-inspired assurance that all would be well and that we would have everything we needed. We knew that this assurance could come only from understanding God as Father-Mother of all and deeply trusting that He was guiding us all along the way.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, and a mother herself‚ wrote, “Never ask for to-morrow: it is enough that divine Love is an ever-present help; and if you wait, never doubting, you will have all you need every moment” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 307). We felt that this passage was speaking to us in our new journey as parents-to-be. It seemed like a promise coming directly from God, reassuring us that this new chapter was fully unfolding with Love’s help. We didn’t have to worry about any detail in relation to the arrival of this little one. Everything would fall into its right place. Divine Love was providing for us all.
My husband and I felt fortunate to be able to spend the three months following our son’s birth at home with him, which was a special time for us. Afterward we both had to go back to work, and we needed to find child care. At the time we were living in a neighborhood that offered a lot of day care, so we thought it would be easy to find a good place. To our surprise, most day-care centers were already full when we called. We were a little discouraged, but this promise from the Bible gave us a lot of peace: “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21). This passage spoke to our heart. We read it several times, and it helped us trust in divine guidance. When reading it, we couldn’t help thinking about the fact that the “word behind thee” comes from God and that we were relying on God’s guidance. This helped us trust that all would be well.
