"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). A student of Christian Science coming upon this verse in the Bible read it with inspiration as the spiritual import of the message came to her somewhat as follows: As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; and I shall be satisfied, for I shall have, consciously, all I need when I awaken to the truth that I am Thy likeness now. To thus awaken I must first see the fullness and completeness of God's being in order to be able to identify myself with the Divine Being.

This message came to the student when she was faced with the argument of lack on all sides. It was necessary for her to cross the ocean in order to be present at her Christian Science students' association meeting, and many were the obstacles which had presented themselves to prevent her taking this step. But the thought of the all-inclusiveness of Deity, which came to her as she pondered the foregoing verse from Psalms, brought also the firm conviction that the only demonstration which she needed to make was that of her oneness, or unity, with God, infinite good.

She recognized also the wonderful provision that our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has made for all by including in the Manual of The Mother Church the By-Law which reads in part as follows (Art. XXVI, Sect. 6): "The associations of the pupils of loyal teachers shall convene annually." She knew also that the Manual was divinely inspired, for, speaking of the By-Laws on page 148 of "Miscellaneous Writings," Mrs. Eddy tells us that they were written under spiritual compulsion and were revealed to her receptive consciousness when there appeared a human need for each one. The student saw that as we claim our unity with God, Principle, we claim our unity with His law as given in the Manual and are thereby placing ourselves under its jurisdiction.

It was necessary, however, to recognize the spiritual fact with which to confute each specific human need and to remain undisturbed by the arguments of financial lack and difficult and unfavorable immigration laws which presented themselves. It was seen quite clearly that the association meeting was a right activity and that once a spiritual activity is understood as such, obstacles to its unfoldment begin to fall away. As she realized more and more the all-inclusiveness of God, her unity with Him was more firmly established in consciousness.

In proving the spiritual nature of supply she found that it was necessary to see the unlimited nature of man as God's reflection. Supply is the unfoldment of good, not the accretion of matter. We must cease looking outside ourselves to a pay packet or to any material channel for our income. There is only one income, the income of spiritual ideas, which have their source in God, divine Mind, and which man continuously reflects. Once this is realized, living becomes a joyous acknowledgment of the presence of Love's abundance. Supply is not resident in any one country more than another or in any one individual more than another; it is resident in Mind. To demonstrate this truth in daily experience it is important that we listen for and entertain these spiritual ideas and allow no thought of limitation about ourselves or others to enter our thinking.

Reasoning in this way, the student found that at the appropriate time she was in possession of the necessary amount of money for the tiip. She had not acquired any large sum from outside, but rather had wisely utilized God's spiritual resources of good.

The immigration difficulties, which had threatened the Scientist with loss of her student status in the country where she was working, were faced without fear, and the proper steps were taken to obey the immigration rules, even though it meant giving up this status. It was recognized that man has only one status, that of the child of God, which can never be lost. Realizing that this Godlike status belonged not only to herself, but to everyone as an idea of God, she knew that she could meet only the qualities of God wherever she went. In consequence, her contacts with officials were most cordial, and when it was time to return to the country where she was working a much better status was offered her which has since enabled her to leave and reenter without restriction and to work in either country.

This opened up new fields of opportunity which would never have been available had she not taken her stand for Truth. It has since proved a great source of inspiration to her and to others to realize that the real value of the experience was not in the material coming and going, but in the enlarged understanding of the all-inclusive nature of God and the operation of His law.

Our beloved Leader says in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 268), "Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect." Sometimes we are tempted to look to matter for effect even though we know that cause is in Mind. It is good to remember, however, that the effect is in Mind too. When we have done this we have gained the spiritual concept which annuls whatever claims to be discordant in our lives.

When we awake in God's likeness we see that we already have all that God gives. Then let us daily claim that there can never be a moment when we can be richer in good than we are now. It is important to know ourselves absolutely in Science. Let us claim vigorously that man already includes in his identity every idea which is being unfolded now, for now is God's time. We should see this manifest in our experience as a sense of completeness.

In Science and Health we read (p. 174), "The footsteps of thought, rising above material standpoints, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller; but the angels of His presence—the spiritual intuitions that tell us when 'the night is far spent, the day is at hand'—are our guardians in the gloom." As we listen in all humility for these spiritual intuitions, the long night of waiting is illumined and human footsteps unfold in perfect order. We look out from the boundless basis of pure spirituality; we are in unity with God's unfoldment of His own character, which is full, complete in every aspect, continuously revealing more and more of the perfection of His own being.

In the words of a much-loved hymn (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 65):