During a major transition time in my life, I was unsure of my next steps. If I moved, I would have two places full of things that would have to be dealt with, and a third one that would need to be sold. If I stayed, decisions would have to be made about my living arrangements, including the consolidation of household goods.
I was particularly concerned about how everything was going to happen if I moved, which would involve repairing and selling one property, repairing and renting out another one, as well as purchasing and renovating the new one. It would also require me to pack up and move two households into one location, as well as donating, distributing, and selling furniture and miscellaneous items, including a car. It all seemed as though it could take at least a year to accomplish.
My expectations at the time were based on material paradigms of how things should get done and how long it should take to do them, considering past experiences and input from others. Feeling daunted, I turned to God for direction. “I will go anywhere You want me to go, live anywhere You lead me, or stay here,” I prayed. “Just show me the way, and I will follow.”
My trust in divine wisdom was based on what I had learned from my study of Christian Science about God as infinite Love that meets every human need. And so, during these days, I prayerfully continued to ask God for His guidance and also to affirm that the one divine Mind is in complete control, not various mortal minds. Contrary to material perceptions, God’s creation—including each one of us—is entirely spiritual, and He governs all according to His law of eternal harmony.
I had witnessed God’s hand at work in my life many times before and had seen evidence of divine government in resolutions to difficult situations. So I saw this new challenge as a great opportunity to shift my view of reality from the mistaken sense of life in matter, with all its vagaries, discords, and limitations, to the true, spiritual perception of divine Life unfolding in order and harmony.
I prayerfully affirmed that God’s plan for me was already in place and being expressed in abundant goodness, joy, well-being, employment, and supply—all unlimited by material paradigms of how it was best and most likely for human needs to be met.
A paradigm could be defined as a pattern or model. A stanza from a hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal conveys the unlimited goodness and harmony of God’s spiritual models:
God could not make imperfect man
His model infinite;
Unhallowed thought He could not plan,
Love’s work and Love must fit.
Life, Truth and Love the pattern make,
Christ is the perfect heir;
The clouds of sense roll back, and show
The form divinely fair.
(Mary Alice Dayton, No. 51)
In prayer, I turned away from a material sense of my future with limited options and a host of decisions to make.
Not long after I prayed, I was driving home from some errands and saw a “For Sale” sign on a property near where I lived. I stopped in to see it and learned that multiple offers had already been made by other potential buyers. One of them, based upon preapproval of a home loan, had been quickly accepted by the seller. I felt led to apply for preapproval of a loan myself, which proved to be helpful down the line.
I continued to pray during these days, confident that things would work out in an orderly and harmonious way. One day my financial advisor emailed me to set up an unexpected meeting during an inconvenient time, but I felt divinely impelled to make the appointment. During our meeting, he shared an idea that was pivotal in enabling me to go forward with finding a property to buy.
One thing quickly led to another, and I found a place in an area I hadn’t considered before, but where I felt divinely led. My offer was accepted and a purchase agreement was signed. The situation I had gone through was well described in a Bible verse: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8).
In prayer, I continued to turn away from a material sense of my future with limited options and a host of decisions to make. Instead, I strove to maintain a spiritual perspective, with God guiding me each step of the way in accord with His will—and He did. Acknowledging God’s ever-presence at every opportunity, I felt reassured by this counsel in Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (3:5, 6).
Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, writes, “How true it is that whatever is learned through material sense must be lost because such so-called knowledge is reversed by the spiritual facts of being in Science” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 312).
I strove to maintain a spiritual perspective, with God guiding me each step of the way.
This is an apt description of why the paradigms I had been considering earlier were so limited. They were based solely on human reasoning. I saw so clearly that I needed to model my expectations on God’s infinite paradigms. And I prayerfully worked to open thought to do God’s will without any material limits whatsoever. God is the true source of all good and has abundant power to bless. He unfolds our activities and meets our needs from a boundless spiritual basis. When we rely on Him, we can accomplish goals and find solutions in ways we might never have thought possible.
An account in the Gospel of John shows that Christ Jesus overcame limited material paradigms and proved God’s infinite spiritual paradigms. The disciples had entered a ship to go toward Capernaum, and in the darkness that night they saw Jesus coming toward them, walking on the water. “Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went” (John 6:21). Jesus had overcome matter-based thinking about how to get from one place to another and how long that should take.
So, what does God’s timing look like? Sometimes, as in my case, it’s like a fast-moving train. As I prayed, listened for, and followed God’s guidance, the steps I needed to take quickly unfolded one after another, and I experienced a smooth and efficient “ride.” What had originally looked as if it could take about a year ended up taking about a quarter of that time!
At other times, God’s unfoldment might seem slow and perhaps involve spiritual growth we didn’t realize we needed. In those cases, we must trust that God is preparing the way, even if immediate progress isn’t evident. Science and Health instructs us: “Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept. Patience must ‘have her perfect work’ ” (p. 454).
The words of a hymn capture the wonderful unfoldment of God’s paradigms:
’Tis God the Spirit leads
In paths before unknown;
The work to be performed is ours,
The strength is all His own.
Supported by His grace,
We still pursue our way;
Assured that we shall reach the prize,
Secure in endless day.
God works in us to will,
He works in us to do;
His is the power by which we act,
His be the glory too.
(Benjamin Beddome, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 354, adapt. © CSBD)
