Following Naaman's example

Jenny Sawyer

Sometimes, when a problem appears complex, it feels hard to believe that there
could be a simple solution. But in every case, the simplicity of stopping to remember
the absolute goodness of God and His government, brings a clear, often creative, answer to
light.

I needed an answer. A work problem I was facing seemed to be getting more
complicated by the hour. It involved coordinating multiple schedules, travel plans,
locations, and other logistics—all in the hope of creating one five-minute video.
As the e-mail communications multiplied, I found myself growing increasingly
anxious. There just didn’t seem to be a good answer—especially for the video shoot
location.

At the point of maximum stress, I suddenly remembered the story of Naaman, which had been in that week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson. The gist is that Naaman was a leper and wanted to be healed. But when the healing didn’t happen the way he wanted it to—the prophet Elisha wouldn’t come out to heal Naaman, and Naaman was insulted by the prophet’s direction to wash in the River Jordan—Naaman went away in a rage. It was only when Naaman had the humility to put pride and human will aside and to go wash in the river, that he was healed (see II Kings 5:1–14).

As I thought about the Naaman story, I was struck by the way so many things in our lives would try to prevent us from having our healing “river moment”—that absolute submergence in divine Spirit, where there is nothing but the presence and power and knowledge of God. I decided to follow Naaman’s example at the end of the Bible story and fully “submerge” myself in Spirit.

I turned away from the e-mails that were flooding my inbox and from the anxiety, the suggestions that argued there was no answer. It was such a relief to shut out the clamor and to open my heart to the reality of God. I felt the presence of the Divine. And that’s when I heard this message: “There isn’t just a solution; there’s a perfect solution.” It had never occurred to me that there was a perfect solution! But in that moment, I knew that God had told me the truth. The solution was His, so of course it was perfect.

The anxiety left. About half an hour later, an idea occurred to me regarding a new video shooting location that would solve every issue we were confronting. In just two more e-mails, the entire knot was untangled, and we had the perfect answer for our video shoot. It all happened because I stopped to remember God. He, of course, had already remembered me. Thank you, God.

–Jenny Sawyer, Brighton, Massachusetts

This was originally shared as a testimony at a 2 p.m. EST online testimony meeting at The Mother Church.

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