THERE was a time in my life when I needed to know more about the immediacy and availability of God's care. A business difficulty that had been developing over several years seemed unyielding, despite my prayers. One day I unwisely (and mistakenly) concluded that God would deal with the matter in His own time and in His way. I felt that while I could trust in His wisdom and love for the right answer, I would simply have to endure until that time came. This concept, that I had to continue living with the torment and heaviness of the situation for an uncertain time, was blinding me to the immediacy of God's care.

That afternoon I was working by myself on the roof of my factory, making some minor repairs. As I was bending over to climb down a ladder from one level to another—about a twelve-foot distance to a hard deck below—the base of the ladder slipped out from under me and I began to fall headfirst. Then, in what seemed like a fraction of a second, I let go of the ladder, grabbed the rain gutter, and was saved from the fall.

At first I was angry. This accident seemed to me to be clear evidence that I was separated from God. It brought to mind the fears and the helplessness I had been feeling about the unsolved business difficulty. Then, in reviewing what had happened, I suddenly realized how I had been saved from falling!

My last mental picture was of being below the rain gutter, hanging on to the ladder, and dropping like a rock, yet somehow I had caught the rain gutter. When this realization came, I was instantly overwhelmed with gratitude that God was present and in control. As a result, I felt assured that the law of God was operating in regard to the business problem and that a solution was imminent. This proved to be true. And it taught me to trust in the timeliness of God's care.

It is vitally important to focus on divine reality instead of on the material scene when we are faced with a problem. Why? Because God's reality is the truth. Letting our thought be filled only with good, we are exercising our dominion over the bad things we are concerned about. Christ Jesus said, "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). And he demonstrated it so that we would see how to prove in our own lives just how immediate God's power is.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy states, "To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demonstrated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a phenomenal exhibition" (p. 150). This healing power is available to anyone who is willing to put it into practice. If we are seeking healing, we need not delay or waver in our courage and determination. When Jesus' disciples failed to heal in one instance, he admonished them, "O faithless generation" (Mark 9:19). Surely Jesus said this not to discourage his disciples but to assure them of their God-given ability to heal, if only they would trust more steadfastly in the power and authority of God.

When we have been praying to solve a problem, and the condition does not yield readily, we may conclude that we have done all that we can. Sometimes this conclusion comes from a feeling of helplessness, but this is actually a mistake. Human efforts, while useful, are not where the true answer to our problem lies. Instead, we need to recognize that man is spiritual and that each of us is God's perfect spiritual idea. Then, we are beginning to look at things from God's perspective, where everything is already perfect. For us to discern this perfect state requires childlike receptivity and faith, but this does not imply unproductive time or delay. It just depends on our willingness to accept God's presence as the active force of good in our lives.

On another occasion I had accepted the belief that more time and study would be necessary for the healing of a physical problem, when the phrase "the perception of spiritual Truth" stood out to me. This phrase is in Science and Health, under the metaphysical definition of believing in the Glossary. The complete sentence reads: "Firmness and constancy; not a faltering nor a blind faith, but the perception of spiritual Truth" (p. 582).

This put my thought at ease. I understood that I did not have to know the whole of infinite God, Truth, in order to be healed. If I was expectant, firm, and consistent in my application of what I knew of God and of the man of His creating, and was living in obedience to God's commandments, then I was fulfilling His law. From this it followed that my present "perception of spiritual Truth" was all I needed to meet my need—and it did.

Jesus did not say that we need faith as big as a mountain or as vast as an ocean. He said that even with faith as small as a mustard seed "nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matt. 17:20). God's law is perpetually operating, and when we humbly perceive this fact, and remove the false logic and the excuses that serve only to obstruct our progress, we open the channels for divine inspiration that heals.

Now is the time! God's plan for us is in full effect, and we are armed with all we need. Faith in and understanding of God's omnipotent ever-present love reveal that the perfection we so much desire for man is the very reflection of God, now.