When I’ve been faced with challenges that appear to have no solution, I’ve often found the following Bible passage helpful, especially as it’s given in the Good News Translation: “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him” (I Corinthians 2:9). That ability to see past a seemingly insoluble situation to God’s already-prepared resolution was something I demonstrated last year.
Upon returning home from a two-week trip, I found extensive flooding in one of our bathrooms and the adjoining bedroom. A clogged drainage line on our condominium premises had caused a backup in the sink, resulting in two inches of water in both rooms.
The maintenance crew I called responded quickly. They immediately removed the water and unclogged the line. Over the next two weeks the affected areas were remediated and repaired. I was grateful that all was in order once again. But the real challenge lay ahead with the insurance process.
Two months prior to this incident, I had learned that our condominium association’s insurance policy was now providing interior coverage that duplicated my own policy. I had researched this thoroughly at the time and subsequently reduced to the minimum my own coverage.
So upon completion of the repair work, I submitted my claim to the condo association’s insurance company, only to find they would not accept it. It turned out there had been several other water damage claims that preceded ours, and the condo association was now in danger of having their entire policy canceled if it submitted even one more claim. I spoke with many people over many days. There were apologies aplenty, but no acceptance of my claim. And since the recently reduced coverage on my own insurance policy seemed to be insufficient, the claim I submitted to them was closed.
In stepping back and addressing this through prayer, as I’ve learned to do in Christian Science, it became clear to me that I was now experiencing another kind of flooding—an inundation of my consciousness by self-recrimination, guilt, and frustration. It was those thoughts that now needed removal and remediation. That’s when the aforementioned Bible text came to mind, “What no one ever saw or heard. . . .”
I had no idea from where, or even if, resolution would come, but according to that citation all I had to do was to love God and recognize the divine presence and provision, and the solution would become apparent. And so I clung to that divine demand in my daily praying. At times it seemed futile to do this, as no new direction was seen or heard outwardly.
All I had to do was to love God and recognize His presence and provision, and the solution would become apparent.
That’s when this thought from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy was a strong support: “The more difficult seems the material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith and the purer our love” (p. 410). Clearly, there are far more difficult conditions people face than my unpaid insurance claim, but it certainly felt unyielding. And here again was that demand to love. Love the insurance company, love the condo association, and yes, love myself! This realization brought me a great sense of peace.
Several months later I had to call my insurance company about an entirely different matter. That concluded, the agent said it was standard procedure to review my home coverages to update their records. All sounded routine—furnishings, personal articles, liability—until she got to the last item, water backup.
This incident was a significant lesson for me to be persistent in my confidence that God’s goodness will prevail.
“Wait!” I replied. “What did you say?”
She explained, “You have insurance in case, say, a sewer line backs up and there’s flooding.”
There was a moment of silence on my end, followed by an equally silent but heartfelt, “Thank you, God!”
It turned out I had had coverage all along for the very incident that occurred, but up to that point no one, including the original agent handling our claim, had known about it. “What no one ever saw or heard. . . .”
The claim was reopened, new paperwork submitted, and in a short time I received funds covering the full amount of the original claim.
This incident was a significant lesson for me to be persistent in my confidence that God’s goodness will prevail. I’m immensely grateful.
