WHEN we enter a busy highway, we often come to a road sign that reads "Yield." We know that it is our law-abiding duty to wait patiently until the road is clear before proceeding safely on our way. Isn't it also wise, before we proceed with any plan, to stop and pray, wait for God to show us a clear, safe direction, and then yield to His leading?

If a situation should occur that does not give us time to stop and pray quietly, we can immediately know that there is only one divine Mind, God, who is protecting and supporting us, and then firmly take the first step. As we continue to acknowledge God's sustaining love and care and set aside our human desires, new steps will become apparent until we are able to complete our mission successfully.

We don't always have to know the whole plan at the start. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding,"  ^{Prov. 3:5.} the Bible tells us. Even if we have prayed a long time on a problem and no solution has appeared to us, we can trust that God, who is infinite intelligence, has already done His work well. Our continued prayers will spiritualize our consciousness until we see God's perfect work manifested in our lives. God always provides the answers, and we can know them.

You may be saying, "That sounds good, but how does one go about this?" The human sense of what is right may be clouded by material pressures or desires, and what may seem right to us at a given time may not be what is best for all concerned. If one is unsure of how to pray about some difficult problem, a wise place to start is with God and man's true relationship to Him. Claim your heritage as God's child, possessing intelligence, grace, and humility to do what is God's will. Be assured that God is shepherding you patiently and firmly, and let His mercy be your guiding light. Be motivated by truthfulness and fairness. Yield all human will to the divine will.

Christ Jesus is our example in all of this. He yielded completely to God's will. He constantly lived the ideal "Not my will, but thine, be done."  ^{Luke 22:42.} Jesus was humble and meek, yet no one else in the Bible demonstrated the power of God as he did. He fed the multitudes, stilled the waves, and healed all forms of sickness and sin. It was his spiritual sense of God as the only Mind controlling the universe that enabled him to demonstrate the love and power of God in his resurrection and ascension.

When we are ready to lay aside the false concept that we possess power personally, and humbly say as Jesus did, "I can of mine own self do nothing,"  ^{John 5:30.} God's power is manifested as goodness in our lives also. This is what Mrs. Eddy promises in the chapter "Prayer" in Science and Health: "Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and they assuredly call down infinite blessings."  ^{Science and Health, p. 15.}

In many situations, such as marriage, family, the workplace, or at school, we may feel that by yielding we are having to give in to someone or give up something. When these thoughts present themselves to us, we can firmly acknowledge that God supplies all good to every one of His children. We can accept right then His impartial good for all.

Several years ago, our family had an opportunity to prove how praying humbly and yielding to God for guidance bring harmony and happiness to us all. My husband's work required our moving to a small town in a different state. We were living near a large city where we had been raised and had enjoyed the love of family and friends. Except for my husband's improved employment, everything about this move seemed wrong to me. When we arrived in the town to find housing, the climate was very different from that of our former area, housing was limited, and the town seemed small and definitely not my choice for a place to raise our family.

Throughout our week's stay, I prayed to accept and understand the present practicality of Jesus' statement "In my Father's house are many mansions .... I go to prepare a place for you."  ^{John 14:2.} Gradually all human sense of despair was replaced by trust that our home was already prepared for us by God. I knew that by yielding human planning and relying completely on God's direction we would be led to our new place. By the end of the week, after we had done much searching, a friend told us of a house that wasn't on the market but that the owner wished to sell. It was perfect for our family, and we were able to purchase it at a reasonable price.

Our housing needs were supplied, but it was still necessary for me to gain in my own thought a better sense of home. Mrs. Eddy's statement "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God"  ^{Science and Health, p. 254.} comforted me. I began to realize that as a guest of God, I could be assured that our true home was already established in God's kingdom and was right then perfect and harmonious.

On Sunday morning as I attended the service at the branch Church of Christ, Scientist, tears came to my eyes. Yielding to what was right was taking place. As I walked out of the church and was greeted by happy, friendly people, I felt God's love surrounding our family, and I was peaceful and expectant of good. Through reliance on prayer our whole family was rewarded by many happy years in that town. We found the good that had always been there and was already prepared for us. Changing homes and locations has never again been done with doubt or fear, but joyously and with the expectancy of uninterrupted good.

When yielding is done through humble and sincere prayer and we are able to say honestly, "Thy will be done," we will see God's infinite good expressed. The false sense of giving in disappears and is replaced by harmony and abundant good for all. As we put aside our human will, and let our actions be governed by God's will, which is always right, we proceed safely, knowing we are being led by God's infinite wisdom. Problems that force us to spiritualize our thoughts and trust in God's love bless us with spiritual progress. As a verse in the Christian Science Hymnal states:

This doesn't sound like giving up, does it? What greater reward could we have than a realization of perfect Truth and boundless Love? In fact, it is much like coming to a sign in a decisionmaking process that is saying, "Yield." By quieting a human sense of "I want it my way" and replacing it with "God, show me the way You want me to go," we can trustingly take God's hand and proceed safely along the highway of human endeavors, safe in His care and led by perfect Truth and boundless Love.