Last year while flying back from a weekend trip with friends, I was waiting to board the plane when I started to feel very unwell. My first thought was, “What an inconvenient time to be feeling sick. I’m minutes from getting on a flight—now is not the time for this.” My boarding group was called, and I went ahead and got on the plane.

By the time I settled into my seat, I was feeling worse. People were filling the seats around me, and I didn’t know if I could make it through the flight—if I should try to get off the plane or if they would even let me leave. I felt trapped, fearful, and alone. 

I knew I needed to pray. I texted a practitioner to ask her to pray for me, and while I waited to hear back, I opened the notes app on my phone. Over the years, I’ve collected favorite quotes from my study of the Bible and of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. I scrolled through the first few quotes until I stopped on this single line: “Is not the Lord your God with you?” (I Chronicles 22:18). That simple question broke through the fear. Of course God was with me. How ridiculous to think that just because I felt alone, I was alone. Instead, God was right there. I had all the help I needed right at that moment.