I didn't give up

One day I was conversing with a friend about the issue of youth nowadays in Africa, who are faced with unemployment, purposelessness, poverty, corruption, etc. We found that it is so easy to be fatalistic in thinking and believing there is nothing that can be done in order to change things. Instead of making efforts to change the situation, we may find ourselves looking for a more favorable environment to succeed, and this is why we witness a rush of people to Western countries in search of opportunities to realize their dreams. But running away from an unfavorable environment may not solve someone’s problems definitively. I believe we will still be facing these issues in other forms until we overcome them.

The right apprehension of God and man reveals that we cannot be conquered by circumstances when we are always aware of the dominion that God gave us over all things (see Genesis 1:28 ). The Bible shows figures who courageously dealt with challenges of all sorts in order to realize their dreams—the long trip of the children of Israel through the wilderness to the Promised Land teaches us that qualities such as gratitude, courage, patience, perseverance, faith, and obedience, enable us to overcome any apparently insurmountable obstacle. 

In 2007, I decided to take class instruction in Christian Science, for I knew that class would permit me to deepen my knowledge of Christian Science and to heal in a systematic way with more efficiency.

I cherished in prayer that God would lead me to the right Christian Science teacher at the right time. I had left my studies in the university for a while to work full time in an NGO (nongovernmental organization) so that I could save some money for the class, but when the teacher with whom I was corresponding accepted me into her upcoming class, I started facing severe resistance that seemed to want to impede me from attending. I felt seriously sick, I had a misunderstanding in my workplace that led me to resign, and I was left without any income. I could not ask for financial support from my family, and as I did not know what to do, the suggestion to give up knocked at the door of my thought, but I did not accept such a temptation because I knew that it was mortal mind’s resistance to Truth.

Class instruction is God’s activity that nothing can delay.

I was convinced that if God had produced in me that desire to take class instruction in order to help mankind, He would provide all that is needed at the right moment. I prayed to understand that no matter what seemed to be going on, God was, in reality, controlling the situation harmoniously. One month later, I finally got the necessary money to get the passport and to pay the class fee, but at the moment I was about to collect my passport, I was told that there were some problems, so they did not issue it!

Apparently there would be no other option than to postpone and take the class the next year. But I refused to accept this for I knew from experience that divine Love always brings us to the proper destination and God’s promises never fail. I opened my thought to the fact that there was a solution that God was going to show me, so I went to the Christian Science Reading Room to study and pray. All the articles and testimonies that I read were from people who also found themselves in such situations and who didn’t concede to discouragement. They never gave up, and they did what was right. Also, a Christian Science practitioner whom I met reassured me with conviction that nothing could prevent me from attending class, because class instruction is God’s activity that nothing can delay—nothing can stop its natural unfoldment.

I prayed with this passage from Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Mind is the source of all movement, and there is no inertia to retard or check its perpetual and harmonious action” (p. 283 ). The same day, I got the information that it was possible to travel to where I was going without a passport, by road. It would be challenging to go to a foreign country that I did not know in such extreme travelling conditions, but I was so happy and grateful to know that there was a possibility to travel and the next day I was on the road!

The journey took four days. God led me step by step and provided me with all that I needed until I reached the class safely. Everyone was surprised to see me! What really helped me to never give up was an uncommon enthusiasm and the joy that I was doing something right that I had been cherishing in my thoughts for so long.