Do right, then trust

When my family and I moved to Massachusetts several years ago, a man whom we’d previously met asked us if we would like to rent his house. It was a lovely home in a beautifully wooded area, and our relationship with our landlord was very amicable. We’d been living there some time when he announced that he was engaged and had decided to sell that property. Feeling it was not the right decision for us to purchase this home, we began searching for other rentals in the area.

At the time, available rentals seemed to be very scarce. Our search lasted weeks, then months. Throughout our search, we kept in touch with the landlord and kept him abreast of our work in looking for another place. After a while, we received a registered letter that informed us that we needed to vacate the property by a certain date. The difficulty of the process and the approaching deadline resulted in a lot of fear and “knots” in our stomachs. 

We had learned that God cares for us in every way and that we could trust Him unconditionally.

Our search finally yielded a home that would be available for one year. However, it meant our children would have to change schools. It was the only place we could find, but moving our family of five for only that period of time just didn’t seem right.

My wife and I had to handle fear of the deadline we’d been given to move, relocating to another town, and the prospect of having to rent a house that didn’t meet our needs. I recall having a heart-to-heart talk with my wife about the situation. We had learned that God cares for us in every way and that we could trust Him unconditionally, so we decided that this would be the perfect time to practice radical reliance on God.

An earlier experience had made a line from Psalms very precious to me. It says, “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord” (4:5). I had also learned from Psalms that the “sacrifices of righteousness” were a contrite heart and meek spirit, even when one is tempted to feel resentment and anger (Psalms 51:17). 

We were both in agreement that this would be a perfect time to put aside our fear, and trust our spiritual intuition—trust what we felt was the right thing to do—so we turned down the available one-year rental property and faithfully waited on God’s direction.

About this time, my wife found a nearby house that was for sale and would meet our needs, but there were some unusual circumstances that pushed back our potential moving day. I called our landlord and explained, but he and his fiancée insisted on the moving date that had already been established. I had been praying to know that man is the spiritual expression of God, and that we are constantly blessed by the care of divine Love. So I felt inspired to share with my landlord the idea that what blesses one individual, must also bless all (see Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 206).

Although we had been earnestly praying about the situation and desired to do what was right, I was disappointed in what appeared to be a lack of progress. I called my Christian Science teacher and asked him to give Christian Science treatment for this situation. I recall him speaking to me very calmly and comfortingly and saying a few things about how God never creates anything incomplete, and that we could expect complete resolution as well. He said he would pray for us.

I had been praying to know that man is the spiritual expression of God, and that we are constantly blessed by the care of divine Love.

Soon after, I was inspired to call the Assistant State’s Attorney for Massachusetts and ask what our rights were as renters. He explained that we had to vacate within 30 days, or a full rental period. The word “full” resonated immediately with me in conjunction with what my Christian Science teacher had said with regard to God never making anything “incomplete.” The timing of the events meant that we were legally able to stay in our house until the necessary moving day. I called our landlord and explained what I had learned. He accepted the news, and agreed that we could stay in the rental until our move-in date for our new home. My wife and I rejoiced and, through tears, thanked God!

We successfully bought our home, the landlord sold his house, the woman we purchased our home from was able to move when she planned, and everyone involved was indeed blessed. To me, this was one more way in which we were seeing the completeness of God’s care being demonstrated. Although the situation was trying for my wife and me, we learned substantial lessons, particularly that preoccupation with our circumstances produced only fear; whereas, striving “to live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal …” gave us hope and the expectation of good (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 160).

Since this happened, nearly 25 years ago, what we learned from the experience has helped us time after time to offer the “sacrifices of righteousness,” to meekly follow a spiritual understanding of right action, and to put our trust in the Lord.