My wife and I moved to Texas in 1996, and sold our townhouse in Northern Virginia that had been our home for over two decades. Several years passed, and our reason for being in Texas came to an end. Around this time I was offered a job that exceeded my expectations, which meant packing our bags and returning to our old neighborhood in Virginia. But home prices had soared and we could no longer afford to buy back our old townhouse. We would have to look farther out where houses were in our price range.
This prospect was daunting, and the many houses we visited, and the miles and hours we spent searching, left us exhausted and discouraged. We turned to God for guidance, and it felt natural to think more about the idea of “place,” as in our place in God’s creation. We recognized that we could be receptive to God, divine Love, pointing out the path forward, prospering us, blessing us, and lovingly bringing need and supply together for mutual benefit.
After much prayer, the idea came to see “place” in another way—to “give place,” which means to yield. We needed to stop petitioning, outlining, and struggling and get serious about listening for God’s guidance and direction. So we dropped our personal clambering and let God, divine Principle, show us how our need would be supplied. As Jesus said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
