When all one's human plans have failed or when great danger suddenly threatens, one often cries out for God's help as Peter did many years ago. Peter actually walked on the water as long as he kept his eyes on Christ Jesus, but when he looked down into the raging sea, his faith faltered, and he began to be engulfed. It was then that Jesus "stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"^{Matt. 14:31;}

There's a well-known saying, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." We, too, can surmount the trials of human experience as we hold fast to our faith, keeping our thought on God and trusting His ever-presence and allness.

There are not two creations, the one material and the other spiritual. God's perfect, spiritual universe with man in God's image and likeness comprises the only real universe. The material world with man a mortal ensnared in sin, sickness, and death is a counterfeit, a lie.

In order for us to trust in God constantly, it is essential that we use our spiritual senses, which affirm the perfection of God and man. True seeing is discerning the spiritual and perfect, and true hearing is perceiving God's Word alone. Through spiritual sense we taste and know that God is ever-present good and discern that perfection is the reality in all things. We feel the allness of God, wherein there are no false beliefs of evil. The spiritual senses confirm unwavering trust in God. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "Spiritual perception brings out the possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught but God, and so makes man the image of his Maker in deed and in truth."^{Science and Health, p. 203;}

But one may very well ask, "What about this human existence?" The news media constantly report the trials of human experience, and these appear to be very real. Wars, famines, earthquakes, pollution, a disordered economic world, lack of energy for our needs, are just a few of the pictures presented to us each day. How can one trust God with all this evidence to the contrary?

The Master, Christ Jesus, did not waver in his absolute confidence in God. He healed the sick, raised the dead, provided food for the multitudes, calmed the stormy sea, and proved his own identity to be indestructible by rising from the grave. He did not believe what the material senses were reporting to him. Herein lies the secret of his mighty demonstrations. He gave no credence to any of these false beliefs that were presented to him. Instead he reversed them with the truth of perfect God and man. We read in Science and Health, "Thought is borrowed from a higher source than matter, and by reversal, errors serve as waymarks to the one Mind, in which all error disappears in celestial Truth." ^{ibid., p. 267;}

Christ Jesus sometimes spent hours alone in prayer—in the wilderness or in the mountains. He evidently knew the importance of periods of rest and quiet communion with God. Once he said to the apostles, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." And the account continues, "For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."^{Mark 6:31;}

If the Master withdrew at intervals from the false beliefs of sin, sickness, and death, surely we also should set aside peaceful times for prayer and communion with God. The multitude pressed hard upon Jesus and his disciples for healing. Was not this representative of the pressure of false beliefs? A similar multitude of false beliefs presses hard upon us today. It is in our quiet times alone with God that our trust in His ever-present goodness grows stronger and we feel the inner peace that He alone can give and the material world cannot take away.

One way of establishing quiet times alone with God is to set aside regular periods for the study of the weekly Bible Lessons, which are set forth in the Christian Science Quarterly. The systematic study of these Bible Lessons and the daily practice of the truth we have learned from our study foster spiritual growth and an ever-increasing trust in God.

Our most difficult times are those when, to human sense, there seems to be no way to solve a problem. To view the difficulty from the angle of finite sense is to magnify it. But God is good, and He, infinite Mind, continually supplies all our rightful human needs from His infinite, spiritual resources.

Relying on the one God, the children of Israel were sustained by Him spiritually and physically while they lingered in a desert land for forty years. Manna and quail and water were supplied by God, and the people's needs were met—although the material senses were constantly asserting that they would perish in this desert land. Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health: "There is to-day danger of repeating the offence of the Jews by limiting the Holy One of Israel and asking: 'Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?' What cannot God do?"^{Science and Health, p. 135;}

Our trust in God grows deeper and stronger as we glorify Him in all the aspects of His nature—rejoicing in Principle and its law of impartial justice and goodness; in Mind, supreme intelligence; in Soul, which unfolds continuously the beauty and grandeur of the spiritual universe; in Spirit, which animates all activity; in Life, which knows no death; in Truth, which has no consciousness of error; and in Love, which embraces and blesses all its creation. We, too, can rejoice in God's unchanging fullness described in this hymn:

Several years ago it became necessary for me to aid in handling the estates of relatives who had lived more than a thousand miles away, working with lawyers whose offices were also at a distance. At that time it was very inconvenient for me to leave my home. The task seemed difficult. As I trusted in God, divine Principle, and in His laws that govern and bless all creation, these legal matters were handled harmoniously, and I didn't have to make the long journey north. Complete trust in divine Principle's laws of justice and integrity was the basis of thought and action, and these estates were settled in such a way that all concerned were benefited.

As we live in obedience to God's laws, obeying His commandments and reflecting His love to all whom we see and meet, our lives are marked by order, joy, and peace. Our trust in God deepens, and we understand what the Apostle Peter meant when he said, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, ... casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."^{I Pet. 5:6, 7.}