PEOPLE AROUND THE GLOBE are struggling to buy or sell homes. In January Reuters news service reported that the value of transactions in German real estate was expected to drop in 2009 by as much as 23 percent from 2008 ("Distressed property sales seen in Germany—survey," Reuters.com, January 14, 2009). And the BBC subsequently reported property sales in the United Kingdom hitting a new low, to half the level seen a year ago ("House price decline accelerates," news.bbc.co.uk, March 3, 2009).

Often "for sale" signs can sit in yards for months on end. Many urgently needing to sell have discovered their homes' values have sunk below the equity they have in them; still others find that they no longer qualify for the financing to purchase a new home. Headlines have continued to suggest that for would-be sellers, the bad news keeps coming.

Yet we can call on the law of God, which perfectly connects supply with demand, to challenge these grim assessments. Supply and demand are in perfect balance under divine law. And however grim the outlook, this fact is applicable through prayer.

Science and Health, which elucidates spiritual law, puts it this way: "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good" (p. 494). That statement is more than just promising. It is law to everyone—to you and me—every hour, law that rights the balance between supply and demand, and provides security, consistency, and freedom from fear. Right now divine Love is providing these essential life-supports to everyone.

My family's experience in selling a house we'd outgrown confirmed for me that God's law of supply and demand is fixed.

We called it our "funny house." It was so crooked we didn't know whether to hang cabinets parallel to the floor or to the ceiling! Also, we had to pump our water from an underground cistern into the holding tank, by manually turning on an electric pump. County water came to our street, but we couldn't afford to have a plumber lay pipes the long distance to the house. The house itself sat on four acres of nonirrigated ground, more than most people want to take care of. A real estate agent commented at the time, "I guess you could sell this property, if you found a plumber to buy it who owns horses."

I prayerfully challenged his opinion, by acknowledging to myself that supply and demand are invariably and perfectly connected within the fact that God is All. That supply comes from God, the source of all good. And that demand comes from God as well.

In my prayer, I reasoned that demand is actually evidence of resources, not evidence that they're lacking. In other words, I saw that a demand is an opportunity to acknowledge that every bit of God's infinite creation has a use and a purpose. Holes or gaps do not exist in God. He doesn't know situations with huge needs in one place and the resources to meet those needs somewhere else or nonexistent. In my prayer I recognized that good is not parceled out or uncertain, and does not come by chance, personal connections, or great human effort. True good is given by God, who loves unconditionally.

And prayer did come through for us. Within a couple of months of our putting our home on the market, it sold to a man who felt it exactly suited him. And he was a plumber. With horses!

That example may sound a little too light in today's world of extreme needs, but in fact it is quite applicable—with a growing family and career demands, our need at that time was urgent, and so was the buyer's.

God is infinite, all-knowing Mind, and this Mind is able to provide creative and sometimes unexpected solutions. Infinite Mind is also infinite Love, always answering the deepest concerns with the utmost care. The answers to prayer are tangible and always emanate from divine Love. And Love has a way of expressing itself in forms that we can comprehend. For each instance, no matter how large or small the supply, there is an appropriate demand. This is Love's law—ready to challenge any economic crisis—able to find just the right answer.

I love the fact that each of us can glimpse something of these creative solutions. In this way, an individual can help heal a housing crisis. Such prayer has the power to dissolve fear and actually lift expectations. |css