Article October 30, 2017 Issue

‘Not until I feel God’s presence’

Keitha Walker

Once I was going through a prolonged period of inharmonious relations with several important people in my life. At times, the situation threatened to overwhelm me. At one point I placed yet another call to a Christian Science practitioner to ask for prayerful help. I have never forgotten what she said to me, which was to stop and tell myself, “I’m not going to take another step until I feel God’s presence,” whenever I was feeling this was all too much for me to handle.

This had a profound effect. I knew this suggested action—to pause and open my thought receptively to feel God’s presence—had been inspired by God, because I could feel the precise appropriateness of it for this situation. As I obeyed that idea, things began to change. The problems did not immediately go away, but the reactive way in which I was responding to them did, and the angst and fear I had been experiencing began to lose all power over me. Feelings of helplessness were replaced with the growing conviction that God, divine Mind, was right there, filling all space, and thus no other power or presence was present or in operation—no matter how much it seemed to the contrary.

Ultimately, harmony in these relationships was restored.