Article February 2, 2004 Issue

ON THE WINGS OF PRAYER—A HUSBAND'S RESPONSE

David Goldsmith

When the phone rang, I wasn't expecting to hear my wife's voice. For a moment, my heart stopped beating. Half an hour earlier, I'd seen her board her flight. As far as I knew, she was in the air on her way to Sydney. What was happening? When I realized she was calling on her mobile from onboard the plane, thoughts of 9/11 flooded into my mind. I was relieved when she explained it was a defect discovered by the pilot that was keeping her plane on the ground. She asked me to pray with her straight away.

I began by praying about my fear for everyone's safety. I said, "Heavenly Father, Your dear ones on this plane are in Your care. You are protecting them. Their relationship with You is indestructible." And I remembered these powerful statements from the Bible: "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Josh. 1:9), and "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27). These messages reassured me that God was safeguarding everyone.

When Beverly phoned again, she said the fault with the plane was still being investigated. No one knew whether it was safe to fly with the defect or not. I continued praying, recalling Mary Baker Eddy's words from Science and Health: "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts..." (p. 506). To me, this meant that with God in control, appropriate action would become apparent. God's laws were in force right there and then.

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