Our human experience may have been such as to produce the impression that God is unknowable. But Christian Science explains that every individual can and must eventually know God, become aware that He governs and guides man, and enjoy the blessings of this control. Further, it reveals the spiritually mental process by which this wholly desirable and true state of being is brought to realization.

Studying and practicing this demonstrable religion, we gradually cease to think of ourselves as mortals, sometimes mired in materiality. Instead, we claim and realize our true spiritual selfhood, ever one with God, His very expression, the individual manifestation of the one source of all good. Thereby we bring forth the fruits of true knowing: spiritual healing and regeneration. The price we must pay for divine, unerring guidance so that harmony may characterize our experience is a step-by-step yielding of the false impression that we are or ever were mortals, inherently weak, at times helpless, often the victims of guesswork, stumbling in the darkness of spiritual ignorance.

"Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love." ^{Science and Health, p. 106;} These words of Mrs. Eddy's clearly point to the necessity of overcoming the pull of mortal mind, or material sense, toward the totally erroneous state of existence where man seems to be separate from God, the All-in-all. Mentally entertaining the truth that man is always one with God as His witness, we find our thought naturally turning Godward to guide our steps out of the darkness of mortal belief.

Divine guidance waits to be accepted by every individual, but thought must be prepared to accept it. By their very nature, self-will, human outlining, and selfish desires firmly close the door on God's guidance. This door, however, is always open to childlike thought, devoid of all willfulness and purged from all vain and self-centered dreams. Essential therefore is a mental sorting out, discarding the erroneous and replacing it with spiritual ideas, with qualities of divine Love.

I will always be grateful that I turned to God in fervent prayer for guidance at a time of great need. Jobless when employment was at a very low ebb, I was distressed, bewildered, worried. The specter of lengthy unemployment, with its doleful consequences, filled my thought. I could think of little else. From my study of Christian Science I realized that my right course was to seek divine guidance.

Turning to God in heartfelt prayer, willing to set aside all my own preconceived notions and considerations, I was led to view the situation not as a frightening picture outlined by mortal sense but as an opportunity to enter into a business venture based on divine Principle. I saw that such a business must be entirely immune to failure. What a healing, uplifting thought! It swept away and completely destroyed all suggestions of anxiety, fear, and doubt and replaced them with an enveloping sense of peace and confidence.

Thankfully and joyously I at once took the necessary steps to conform to the divine guidance. There were ups and downs during the initial years of the business, but these were always met by the confidence I had gained from my spiritually enlightening experience. Adverse circumstances were powerless to shake this confidence. The ultimate success of the venture and the blessings the business brought to others proved to me beyond all doubt the inestimable value of being God-guided. Truly the consciousness that one is being governed and guided by God gives one a power that is unsurpassable.

When divine Love has clearly pointed out our path, the efforts of mortal mind to cause any deviation from that path by its illusions and misleading suggestions are brought to naught. The storms of error beat in vain when thought is firmly set on the rock, Christ, Truth. Divine guidance may lead us along paths that to material sense are rough and difficult. Yet the journey is spiritually profitable when we hold to the correct view of the forward move and see it as opportunity carved by Love and wisdom. Emerging from these trials, we find ourselves more aware of our divine heritage and true being, more spiritually awake and strengthened.

It is helpful to study Mrs. Eddy's definition of God on page 587 of Science and Health, and to retain in thought what our true selfhood must of necessity be as the individual expression or manifestation of this supreme, entirely good, and unchanging cause. The definition reads as follows: "God. The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence."

When through spiritual sense we find unfolding to our ready thought the true understanding of what Life or God really is, His functioning and nature, we then perceive how certain is His government and control of His creation, including man. More clear to us, then, is our true state of being, our unity with God, hidden from and unknown to the misconception of life termed material existence.

Pondering these words from the Bible we find much food for thought: "I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways." ^{Isa. 45:12, 13.}