Good cannot disappear

How many times have we been tempted to feel that something really good has been removed from our experience and is never coming back? It was at just such a moment that this Bible verse was shared with me by a friend: “God is ever bringing back what disappears” (Ecclesiastes 3:15, James Moffatt Translation). It gave me hope.

The state of my human affairs seemed pretty hopeless. My husband and I were facing a divorce after 30 years of marriage. On top of that challenge, my husband’s career was imploding with a job loss. At his age, the prospects of recovering with a new job seemed bleak. We had a house to sell, and the economy had taken a sharp downturn, so the value of our house fell below the mortgage balance. We could only hope to sell at a loss. I knew that there was no good answer to be found in human reasoning. The more I tried to work things out, the more hopeless I felt. Nothing seemed to be working.

I have been a lifelong student of Christian Science, and I know that as Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 ). Once I began to affirm that my hope was in God, I felt a sense of comfort and peace that allowed me to move forward one step at a time with divine Love at the helm of thought.

Mary Baker Eddy has illumined for us a spiritual sense of hope. She wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “If our hopes and affections are spiritual, they come from above, not from beneath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit” (p. 451 ). Our need is to understand God. A rehearsal of human woes and wants is not a part of how man’s need to understand God is accomplished. How do we increase our understanding of God? Prayer is the answer, and prayer is more than asking God for help. In prayer we must trust God fully and expect only good.

Mrs. Eddy describes turning wholeheartedly to God in prayer: “One thing I have greatly desired, and again earnestly request, namely, that Christian Scientists, here and elsewhere, pray daily for themselves; not verbally, nor on bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importunately. When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone,—but more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow into it the ‘river of His pleasure,’ the tributary of divine Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow,—even that joy which finds one’s own in another’s good” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 127 ).

As tempting as it was at that time to feel self-pity, self-righteousness, and fear about my marriage and finances, I knew it was highly important to overcome these mortal emotions and reverse them with what is true about man. Man is never vulnerable. Man cannot lose what God has given to him.

Day by day my spiritual fitness and understanding of God grew stronger. I understood better that man is God’s beloved child. I knew I could trust God to help me. The more I trusted in God, the more assured I became that everything would work out well. I didn’t know how, but I knew I could count on God as an ever-present help.

Man is never vulnerable. Man cannot lose what God has given to him.

I affirmed that God, the great Communicator, was speaking to both of us simultaneously. Whatever my husband needed to hear, God would communicate to him directly, and whatever I needed to know, God would speak to me directly. There is only one Mind. As stated in Isaiah 65:24 , “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”

However, what I feared the most happened when our marriage ended in divorce. As part of the settlement, I was given the house, but I could not afford the mortgage, and my now ex-husband could not afford to help me with the payments. The savings account quickly dwindled.

I was tempted at this time to feel so hopeless and afraid that I no longer wanted to live. The future looked dark and dismal. I asked for help from a Christian Science practitioner, who reminded me of Hymn 148 by Anna L. Waring in the Christian Science Hymnal:

I longed for unchanging peace and happiness. The more I challenged dismal mortal beliefs and embraced a deeper love for God, the more I felt myself forgiving my ex-husband. Hurt and self-pity were replaced with compassion and meekness. I was finding my joy in another’s good. I could truly wish him well, and felt genuine affection for him.

Fear was lifted from me like sunshine lifts the morning mist. Hope started to fill my thought, and even when nothing had changed, I felt my relationship with God was stronger and more satisfying. Loneliness, doubt, and anxiety gave way to peace, joy, and confidence.

I knew I was well cared for and was certain that God would meet my need, whatever it was. God would never leave me. Then I broadened my thought and saw that there was never a set of human circumstances that could be imposed on me, or anyone.

Before that year ended, my ex-husband came back to me. He told me of his own spiritual growth and of his deep regret about our parting. We came back together on new ground. Out of the ashes of our failed marriage, we grew together spiritually. We decided to remarry. Today our marriage is stronger than ever.

Despite his age and being out of work for over two years, my husband was approached by an employer who knew of him and needed the very skills my husband had honed through his entire career. He was offered an excellent job. With the new job, the mortgage was affordable and there was no need to sell the house. We saw how beautifully God was meeting every human need. Sorrow turned to hope and joy.

Yes, “God is ever bringing back what disappears.” What appears hopeless and lost to the material senses, appears very present and possible to the spiritual senses. We can safely and effectively put our hope in God.