Tom McElroy, a Christian Science practitioner who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, was the guest for this live chat on JSH-Online.com. Tom is also a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. This excerpt has been edited for readability.

How do you know if the path you’re thinking of is God-directed or driven by greed?

One litmus test I have is if something makes me feel more love, less anxious, more secure in God’s keeping; if it gives me a bigger sense of God’s care for everybody around me—for the world as a whole; if my sense of God, in other words, is growing, then that’s a pretty good indication that the inspiration has come from God, and that we can trust it to guide us to useful solutions. On the other hand, we can’t always just trust every idea that comes to us, and so it helps me to know, by how an idea makes me feel, if it’s a God-inspired thought or not. There is a right thought for each given moment. We can take each step, following intuitions that are spiritually logical because they come from divine Principle. 

I live paycheck to paycheck, am barely able to pay the rent and other bills. I’m afraid of becoming homeless. What can I do to turn things around? 

If you look at people in the Bible, from different walks of life, different ages, means, gender, again and again you’ll see folks who were in situations that on the surface looked incurable, insurmountable, such as small groups of people surrounded by an army, others facing incurable diseases or lacking food or funds. Right where it looks like there are no solutions, even there, in that moment, there is always a way forward. 

God is always present and capable of showing us that way. It doesn’t depend on whether we feel inspired enough or good enough or whether we deserve it. The grace of God is something that is freely given. It’s unearned—it’s built into who we are, and who we have been since the beginning of time. When things seem insurmountable, I think we need to start with a bigger sense of God’s love, as something that is unearned, to challenge those thoughts and fears. 

When we start to feel more of that love, not just in an intellectual way, but in such a way that we feel the bigness of that love carrying us—caring for us and for others—that’s how we know we’ve taken a step in the right direction. Getting that clearer sense of God’s love and omnipotence is a little bit like wiping the mud off a window. We look out and we have a clear vision of the road ahead—can see the solutions that are at hand. 

A friend of mine has huge debt from back child support and also owes back taxes. He is not extravagant, but he’s always been a low-wage earner, and cannot cover his bills sufficiently. How can I help pray for him? 

The kingdom of heaven is something that Jesus talked about a lot, and he kept telling his disciples to go out and let people know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He instructed the disciples to prove it. The proof is an important thing. But if we start out praying with the feeling that we have something and somebody else doesn’t, we’re actually missing out on the meaning of the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom, if it is “the kingdom,” has to be for everybody, and so if we truly feel it, if we are discovering that kingdom for ourselves, then it necessarily has to include everybody. So, to see that the bigness of God is not only ours but also everybody else’s is essential. If we have a small sense of the kingdom, or a small God, we’re going to end up not having what we need and not being able to help anyone else, because only the bigness of God can keep that good secure in our thinking. 

When patients call me and are struggling with finances, a health issue, or any other thing, it’s helpful for me to think of them as already innocent, just as if you had a friend who was falsely accused of a crime. You know they’re innocent. You’ve actually witnessed it. You were with them at the very moment they were accused of committing some crime. On trial day you need to say: “I know where this person has been and who they are. I know what’s going on here.” 

So when we see someone who’s struggling, we need to be the ones who stand up and in our own thought declare what is spiritually true about the person in trouble. 

When a thought comes that someone lacks, or is desperate, or doesn’t have a way to find a solution, or is trapped, or is defined by a history or a bank account, it’s for us to say: “No. This person is defined by God, is at one with God, and is getting everything they need. And the one thing I am not going to do is go down the road of guilt or condemnation, because that’s absolutely not a God message.” 

I feel guilty for taking so long to repay debts because of the tiny payments I am able to make. It’s been a long haul with this, and my upbringing was one of belief in lack, financial danger, and fear about never having enough money.

We’ve been made as the sons and daughters of God, and so condemnation and guilt just don’t have anything to do with us. They definitely do not come from God. You know God’s not sending some angel message that says, “Hey, by the way, My dear son, My dear daughter, what a terrible person you are—you’ve really messed up and have gotten off track.” Or, “Somebody else’s suffering or sin defines you, and there’s nothing that can be done about that.”

No, God is always giving us messages of opportunity and of promise and abundance, and it is there to be discovered. We need to be free, first and foremost, from those thoughts and feelings of guilt and condemnation. We need to see them for what they are—as not coming from God, and therefore not being useful or intelligent. Put them aside and discover the good that is at hand for every one of us.