A recent experience, which my husband and I had, proved so conclusively to us the ever-availability of God's care and protection that I feel I can best express my gratitude by sharing it with others.

My husband and I were passengers on a cruise ship bound for the Orient when it caught fire and eventually sank off the coast of Alaska. The blaze started in the night, which was cold and windy.

After some hours waiting on the deck, it became evident that the fire could not be contained as the captain had hoped, and as we were standing at our lifeboat station, my thought turned to prayer quite naturally. I found myself singing Mary Baker Eddy's hymn, "Mother's Evening Prayer" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207) which begins:

I actually sang this, but softly, as we stood waiting for word to abandon ship. As the flames came closer, we were ordered into the lifeboats and soon were adrift.

At this time, in fact all through the experience— twelve hours of which were spent in a lifeboat—I turned constantly to prayerful thoughts that brought me comfort. These were, for the most part, basic and simple truths, such as those contained in this verse from Deuteronomy (33:27): "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." As hours passed in the very crowded lifeboat and the cold penetrated the underclothed passengers (most of whom were also fighting nausea), I thought of the warm atmosphere of God's love as available right there, and that we all were wrapped in the panoply of that love.

It became apparent after several hours that although a rescue ship, an American tanker, had arrived and there were many helicopters about, the big problem was how to get the drifting lifeboats to the tanker. It appeared that this couldn't be done because of the high seas. Again I prayed, reaffirming as taught in Christian Science that divine Mind, or intelligence, was governing right where we were; that God in His wisdom would show us the way. Our lifeboat had no motor, so we were drifting away from the cruise ship as well as away from the tanker. I remembered the words of a Christian Science lecturer who said man is not a mortal cast out on an uncharted sea. I recognized that God was at the helm and therefore we were secure in His keeping and under His direction.

Soon after, we realized that a rescue plan had evolved. A helicopter hovered above each lifeboat, and one by one over a period of hours and under very hazardous conditions each passenger was lifted out of the lifeboat and taken to the tanker or flown to dry land in Alaska. Everyone was saved—over five hundred people in all— many of whom were very elderly. It was said by some to be the biggest airlift rescue since World War II.

In spite of several rather dire predictions as to possible aftereffects of overexposure, my husband and I experienced no physical problems. Also, we were so conscious of the evidence of God's goodness as expressed by our fellowman that there was no place for resentment or self-pity.

For about a week I did find it difficult to fall asleep at night. There was a tendency to relive those long hours. So I called a Christian Science practitioner for help. In our conversation she quoted from Ecclesiastes (3: 15), "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past." I realized then that the past as well as the present and future belong to God. And as God knows only good, good is all I could ever be conscious of. I accepted this completely and with such a sense of relief that the sleeping problem ended right then.

Is it any wonder I am grateful? I speak for my husband also when I say this experience reminded us again that "with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26). In Mrs. Eddy's words (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 135), "What cannot God do?"

MARTHA K. CREVELING
Corpus Christi, Texas