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From bleak outlook to blessings
May 9, 2012, was full of more bad news than I could handle. In full-on panic mode, I wrote to my Christian Science teacher and listed my woes: My school had not renewed my teaching contract; I owned property in Ohio and my tenant was late with the rent; I couldn’t afford the mortgage I owed on my property in Kentucky, and my roommate was moving out so I would lose that income. I was so overwhelmed with the bleak financial picture that I could not break out of the grip of fear. I knew from studying Christian Science that healing takes place when thought is transformed. While I wanted that transformation, I was so dismayed by what was going on around me that I just couldn’t turn away from the doubt and fear.
That Wednesday, I made it my priority to go to the evening testimony meeting at my local Christian Science branch church. I had gone sporadically in the past, but during this tough financial time, I made sure that these healing meetings came first, before other plans. At the meeting a woman spoke about completeness, and I started to think about how I was the complete creation of divine Love. The Bible states: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
I thought about how the gift of having a rental property was from God and that it couldn’t turn into something that would impact me negatively. I started to feel a little bit of peace, and a few days later, the rent check arrived in the mail and I was able to pay the mortgage. Wow! This made a huge impression on me, and I saw how changing the way I think really does adjust my experience.
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About the author
Josephine Neff lives in Lexington, Kentucky and teaches high school math.
