One day at work, my boss called me into her office and asked if I'd help a new employee who was struggling on a software project. She told me that the project was a few weeks behind schedule and needed a boost from someone with experience.

After consulting with the new employee for several hours, I realized that the status of the assignment was much worse than my boss had imagined. There had been almost no progress on the largest and most important task.

When I presented this new, gloomier status to my boss, she became very concerned. She told me it would be disastrous if the project was not completed by its scheduled due date. The image of our organization was on the line with an important customer. My boss said that the new employee and I would need to work late nights and weekends until the project was back on course. I knew we were in a difficult situation, and that my boss could see no other way of addressing the situation. I wasn't happy, however, with the prospect of having to put in all that overtime, particularly considering the stressful circumstances under which we'd be working.

After this meeting, I decided to take a walk around the facility, taking time, as I often do, to pray or to think about something other than the task at hand. That afternoon, the white hallways looked so depressing. The people I walked by didn't seem very friendly, and I wondered why anyone would want to work for such a company. I tried to muster up some mental strength, but fear and stress dominated my thoughts. It was as if the entire company were cloaked in dark clouds.

That night at home, I earnestly appealed to God. The idea came to take a swim in the backyard pool. The earlier turmoil in my thought had quieted down, and there, under a peaceful, starry sky, a "still small voice" spoke clearly to me (see I Kings 19:12). The theme of this divine communication was this statement from Science and Health: "Trials are proof of God's care" (p. 66). I felt as if God were speaking directly to me, and what I heard was that the situation at work was no match for His infinite intelligence. Also, that I, as His image, had access to all the attributes of that intelligence. As these spiritual intuitions continued to speak to me, it became clear that I would grow stronger and more mature as a result of this experience, and that God would show me a dimension of His greatness that I hadn't yet fully embraced. Further, I felt reassured that with patience and expectation, I would see the evidence of the Apostle Paul's words that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28). I left the pool feeling like a new person.

The next several days involved a lot of prayer—both my own and that of the Christian Science practitioner who was helping me. The immediate result of this was that, at work, I found the mental strength to stand up to the thoughts of fear and stress that seemed to come from everyone associated with the project. I refused to let go of the inspiration I'd received. As I worked with the new employee, hour by hour, I was able to express a confidence that brought encouragement to both of us. Every time there was a crucial decision to be made, I would quiet my thinking and instantaneously receive the spiritual inspiration I needed to make the right choice.

On the day before the start of a three-day weekend, I updated my boss on the status of the project. She calculated that we were now a week or two ahead of schedule. She was amazed. I assured her that the gloomy evaluation I'd given her a week and a half earlier hadn't involved a distortion of the facts, but reflected the situation at the time. I didn't share with her the deeply spiritual cause of the project's remarkable progress, but indicated that with proper direction the new employee had performed remarkably well.

Before leaving work that afternoon, I decided to take one of my walks around the facility. This time, the hallways seemed full of light, and I saw God's likeness in everyone I passed. In this moment of bliss, I realized something. Just as the scene in the hallway had changed according to my outlook, what appeared to be a very difficult work situation was transformed when prayer had changed my thinking. I saw that my peace was always secure in God, and that my job was to acknowledge His control over every detail of my life.

I loved being able to leave on a threeday weekend knowing that all was well at work. But many times more rewarding was my newfound understanding of a promise expressed in these lines from a hymn:

JOE GARIANO
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, US