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Watching God work
Over a year ago, faced with financial difficulties, I decided to pray about my negative view of the economy and employment. Each week I studied the Christian Science Bible Lesson and prayed to understand and prove supply to be a spiritual entity.
I turned to the Bible and read, “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Luke 12:27 ). To me, that meant that the lilies do not have to look for beauty, purpose, or supply because it is already theirs from a divine source—God. Nothing is added to them nor taken from them; all their needs are met.
By striving to see employment, usefulness, and economy as spiritual qualities in my own thinking, I knew it would benefit my whole family. I read an article in the Christian Science Sentinel titled “Good Undivided,” by Peter J. Henniker-Heaton (March 20, 1976, p. 481), and it showed me that good doesn’t happen to some people but not to others. Because good is spiritual, it is undivided and universal. Goodness is like the air, available to everyone all the time.
Within the year, my family’s financial situation turned around. I felt so grateful for this and found myself “taking a break” from the work and discipline of prayer. I felt as if I could “sit back,” so to speak.
But without this prayer foundation, I realized I was no longer standing porter at the door of my thinking (see Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 392 ) and was allowing negativity to hold my attention instead of good and Godward thinking. I saw the importance of praying more consistently to keep alert. I learned that I feel the most peaceful, calm, and secure when I’m praying daily for myself and continually praying to see my fellow man spiritually.
These trying situations helped me see the need to maintain an understanding of God as the source of supply. The ideas He communicates to us supply answers to our daily needs. There is no power apart from God, and we can understand this by constantly putting Him first and seeing that “all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation … ” (Science and Health, p. 468 ). The work of releasing fear and replacing it with love makes prayer natural and not difficult. Once the fear is gone, prayer is no longer heavy, but inspiring.
—Samantha Calvin, St. Louis, Missouri, US