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Learning to lean on God
My husband and I divorced when our son was young, and many employment, financial, and family challenges followed. I often considered this sentence from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affection, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for heaven” (p. 57).
I sometimes wondered if those “wintry blasts of earth” would ever subside. But gradually I was able to “unite thought more closely to God,” beginning with gratitude for what I could discern of the good going on. For instance, my ex-husband and I continually worked together for our son’s well-being and were able to keep him in a wonderful private school that provided a loving, family-like atmosphere. Despite my unstable employment situation and very modest income, I was able to buy some real estate that made for a nice home as well as some rental income. I was even able to provide a home for a family friend for several months.
I slowly gained confidence that the power of God was sufficient to meet each need—for employment, home, friendships—for everything. Up until that time, I’d leaned on family for most of these things. But that was no longer an option because of several crises in the extended family. So I learned to lean on God, divine Spirit. This learning was an expansive experience. Gradually, I looked less to my own resources for solutions and more to divine Mind. I was seeing that divine Mind really was willing and able to provide very specific answers if I would just listen.
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About the author
Roberta Dever lives in Tampa, Florida.
