Trusting God’s divine order

Recently, our younger son graduated from college and moved back home while he looked for employment. He soon found two part-time positions and continued to pursue a full-time job. Four years prior to this, our older son had also moved home, following graduation, and it took him several years to find a full-time position so he could afford to move into his own home. My expectation was that our younger son’s search would be similar, which was fine as we were enjoying spending time together.

You can imagine my surprise when after just a few months, our son told us that he and some friends wanted to rent a house in the city and move out as soon as possible. This seemed a premature decision. Though he had two part-time jobs, one was concluding in less than two weeks and the income from the other would have made it very tight financially. My husband and I suggested he do things in the “right order”: first, get a full-time job, save some money, and then consider moving out. 

Our son politely listened, but continued on with his plan. In his view, a full-time job was imminent and there was nothing to be concerned about. The very next night, he came bounding in and excitedly informed us that he and his friends had found the perfect house! My husband and I both felt dismayed. Everything was happening so quickly; I felt he was operating without the sense of order that seemed so clearly important, and it troubled me.

God’s eternal order, upheld by spiritual law, was operating undeviatingly right where our dilemma appeared to be.

That evening, I realized I needed to better understand the idea of “order.” For me, that meant to pray about this situation. As part of my duties as substitute First Reader, I had been studying the idea of “peace restored” for the upcoming Wednesday evening testimony meeting. Two citations seemed on target: “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (I Corinthians 14:33) brought home to me that because God’s care for us is always present, I could expect clarity for both my son and me, as well as a sense of peace about the situation. The other citation was from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy: “The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history” (pp. 470–471). This provided assurance that God’s eternal order, upheld by spiritual law, was operating undeviatingly right where our dilemma appeared to be. Both references brought me the sense of peace and confidence needed to continue my study.

As I prayed, I realized that rather than insisting our son follow my sense of ‘right order’ (and be dismayed if he didn’t), I needed to let go of what seemed so logical and right to me, and understand that God is eternally expressing divine order, where all is perfect and harmonious; His creation is unfolding exactly as divine Mind intends. I worked to acknowledge God’s presence and to recognize that His order is always in operation. I was also able to embrace the fact that God’s guidance is intact; He was leading and caring for my son in this situation just as He had throughout his life. My son’s divine Parent created him perfectly, as His complete spiritual idea. God was unerringly governing all that concerned my child, including providing him the right concept of “home” as well as ordering his career. Mrs. Eddy’s teaching on this point gave me great comfort. She speaks pointedly about God’s guidance: “He has mercy upon us, and guides every event of our careers” (Unity of Good, pp. 3–4). I knew I could trust my son’s entire welfare to his divine Father. And by understanding that God was governing, I knew that the peace we all needed had already been restored—no matter what happened with the house. This prayer removed my false sense of responsibility, and I was able to leave the entire issue with God. I immediately felt a sense of relief, and was grateful to know that by my putting all in God’s hands, everything might not occur in the order I thought best, but all was well because it was certainly under God’s perfect control.

By our placing trust in God’s divine order, blessings are immediate and are not subject to any material conditions, especially time.

The following day we learned the kids had been approved for the house. Our son invited me to see it, which I did, and I was delighted to find it in a lovely, safe part of the city. It truly looked like the perfect house for all involved. I was grateful for God’s direction in having led them to this property, and I felt totally at peace, knowing that all was in God’s hands.

The day before the scheduled move, our son arrived home with a huge smile on his face. He had not only been offered a full-time position, but he also had been asked to choose between two full-time positions! This had occurred the day following the conclusion of his remaining part-time job. The increase in salary placed him at exactly the income level my husband and I felt he needed to be financially comfortable living on his own.

We all rejoiced in this news and gave a collective thanks to God. To me, the peace I’d gained about the whole situation seemed the real healing—the job was an added bonus. By our placing trust in God’s divine order, blessings are immediate and are not subject to any material conditions, especially time. This doesn’t mean things always go in the order we would like, but putting our trust in God, we can know everything always unfolds harmoniously, smoothly, and perfectly.