When I was a college student, I spent one of my summers enjoying the "perfect summer job," working for a hotel on an island off the scenic New England coast. It was an unfamiliar area of the country to me, and I was really on my own for the first time. That summer, I had a chance to prove how our thoughts of God confirm our safety wherever we are.

One night, I went on a date with a boy who I thought was pretty nice. At the party he took me to, there was the usual drinking, which didn't bother me since I'd been offered alcohol before at college. I didn't drink, so I just turned it down. But when drugs surfaced, I felt uncomfortable and asked my date to take me home. He was annoyed, and then became belligerent, which scared me. It was as if his normally kind nature had been erased. My fear increased when I asked a few other people if they'd take me back to town and they refused. Feeling stuck, I walked out on the porch near the sand dunes and began to pray. Whenever I'd faced difficulties before, I'd seen that God provided answers in the form of real, practical, reliable help.

Right then, words from a Bible story came to me as suddenly as summer lightning: "And [he] got him out." It was the instance when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph. Joseph declined her advances and was able to get away (see Gen. 39:12). I felt this story was my answer, so I found the road and began to walk the more than ten miles home. Not sure where the town was, I followed the glow of lights in the fog.

My walk became a metaphor that night for walking along with God, trusting my safety and protection to Him. I hadn't realized until then that taking a stand for the purity of my spiritual identity would be quite so literal! But, I felt a gentle assurance of the presence of God with me as I reached, hours later, the hotel where I worked.

The night manager let me in. Tired and bedraggled, I broke into tears and fell into his arms as I would fall into the arms of a caring uncle. But he didn't behave anything like a caring uncle, and made a pass at me. I broke away and went to my room, worn out from the night's ordeal. By then, it was nearly morning, but I decided to spend some more time praying before going to bed—mentally protesting what I'd been through—and declaring that the spiritual nature of men and women, as God's ideas, is pure and innocent. I prayed to see that the sweetness and goodness of every boy can never erode or disintegrate, but is permanently instilled and preserved by God. And I affirmed that every girl possesses strength, wisdom, and clarity that cannot be mocked or denigrated.

I reasoned that God's creation, man, is good, just as God is. Since we're all defined by divine Mind, we don't need to suffer from either domination or naiveté. I took a strong stand for the innate goodness of all God's children in those wee hours. In the morning, I woke up refreshed, and surprisingly free from anxiety, even grateful for the lessons I'd learned the night before. Though I didn't see my date again, the hotel manager apologized to me the next day. And later, I learned that it had been smart to leave that party. Shortly after I left, the party was raided by police, and everyone there was taken to jail for the night.

Through prayer I had dismissed from my thought the idea that I could be preyed upon and vulnerable, From then on, everyone I chose to date treated me with respect and kindness. This experience helped me see that God is always governing His sons and daughters, not mortal instincts such as sensuality, selfishness, and emotionalism.

Mary Baker Eddy expanded on this spiritual fact in an article republished in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany: "There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited" (p. 210).

There is no unfamiliar scenario where we are out of the reach of divine Love. Evil cannot hold us at bay, because God, good, is the only real power and the only presence. As this power is reached for and realized, release from any harmful situation is assured.

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This article first appeared on www.spirituality.com