Living quarters found; employment problem solved

Shirley Grapek Haight

I feel that I can never express enough gratitude for all the good that Christian Science has brought to me. I should like to give heartfelt thanks for the simple truths that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ... So God created man in his own image... And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1: 1, 27, 31) and for the tremendous power of these truths, which Christian Science has explained to us.

Two experiences have proved to me the truth of these fundamental statements. No matter how strongly I felt that evil was real and powerful, no matter how long I forgot the loving care of our Father-Mother God, no matter how much I insisted upon trying to follow self-will and do the work at. hand by myself, God was ever at hand, ready to bestow His blessings as soon as I could recognize His glorious power.

In the first experience I had to move at a time when there seemed to be a shortage of desirable living places. On the evening before the day on which it would be most desirable to move, I turned to God and cast aside all further attempts to work things out my own way. I studied the weekly Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly carefully, completing it with a renewed sense of God's omnipresence and omnipotence, with all material suggestions of limitation rejected. Since spiritual existence is the only reality. Godlike qualities alone can be manifested in man's experience. While clinging to these thoughts, I was led to take orderly steps to prove the truth in my experience, and before the end of the following day I had not only found living quarters far more satisfactory than I had ever dreamed of, but I was settled in them.

The second experience was somewhat similar to the first, except that this time I needed to find my right occupation. The department in which I worked was undergoing reorganization, and I accepted the erroneous suggestion that I should make a complete change and find work elsewhere. With feelings of impatience and an unconscious mistrust of my former employer, I once more attempted to take all the necessary steps without God's help. I was filled with misgivings, fear, and confusion because of numerous offers, none of which seemed to be right. Finally I again turned to God and humbly declared, "Not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).

With a sincere desire to fill my consciousness with spiritual thoughts and an awareness of my oneness with God, I soon recognized the erroneous, unloving thoughts that I had been entertaining. I lost all sense of doubt and confusion in my gratitude for having replaced erroneous suggestions with love for all those whom I had been tempted to mistrust and for a new confidence in finding my true activity in reflecting God. Self-seeking ceased at once, and new and far more satisfactory arrangements were worked out in the same department with which I had been associated. Shortly thereafter free time was graciously granted for me to receive further instruction in Science.

Through Christian Science, error, which attempts to deny the allness of God, can be overcome as we humbly accept and practice the simple truths revealed in the Bible. For this I am eternally grateful.— (Mrs.) Shirley Grapek Haight, Honolulu, Hawaii.

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Signs of the Times

February 12, 1949

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