Alone, Deep in the woods, I was lost. Clouds and mazes of tall spruce trees blocked any view of the sun from which to calculate my direction. With sinking heart, I realized my foolishness in entering a wilderness area unaccompanied and unprepared. Worst of all, no one knew I had strayed there.

I had come to Alaska to spend the summer with a friend and her family—and to pray. I was looking for a career path where I could best express my talents and love for others. My friend's rural homestead lay at the edge of a beautiful wilderness about a mile from a secluded lake, which we had visited before she left to spend the weekend away.

This afternoon I had set out to see the lake again, taking along the family dog. Uncertain about my path, I followed the dog, who eventually led me to the lake; then she trotted off unnoticed. I reentered the dense woods looking for a more direct route home. Not only had I lost the trail, but I couldn't even retrace my steps to the lake.

In humility I realized I couldn't find my way alone. I had to lean completely on God. I stood in the deep, silent woods, tears welling up as I struggled to listen for God's guidance and comfort.

Gradually I began to feel God, my loving Father-Mother, there with me. I knew that the divine influence that had directed Moses in the wilderness was present in my consciousness to guide me. I remembered a favorite passage from the Bible about God's tender shepherding of His people: "He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deut. 32:10).

A statement from Science and Health also occurred to me: "Without natures particularly defined, objects and subjects would be obscure, and creation would be full of nameless offspring,—wanderers from the parent Mind, strangers in a tangled wilderness" (p. 507).

Instantly I recognized this statement as truth I needed to accept. I could see that my real need wasn't simply to find my way out of the woods, but to find myself—to discern my spiritual purpose as God's idea. I began by reasoning that God, by His very nature, is infinite intelligence, perfectly loving Mind, whose creation reflects His goodness and flawless understanding. God expresses distinct beauty, completeness, and individuality in what He creates. And because Mind tenderly encompasses all ideas and comprehends them fully, none could ever be obscure, forgotten, lost, or purposeless.

I began to glimpse that I was no stranger to Mind, God, and never a wanderer from my identity as His expression, held within His loving control. The next hours were a lesson in trusting Him step by step. Crossing rugged terrain, I paused often to ponder the perfection of all-loving Mind, to pray for divine direction, and to follow as best I could. Reaching the edge of a marshy stream bordered by old beaver lodges, I felt impelled to follow it in a particular direction. Once, naively attempting to ease my way, I stepped off the beaver lodges into the shallow stream and quickly sank chest-deep in mud just beneath the water. I couldn't feel solid ground beneath me.

"Father," I cried out, and grabbed for a log above my head. As though my arms had a power not their own, I yanked myself back onto the log pile. I was safe! Recalling that Christ Jesus rebuked every inharmony as a lie because it dishonored the perfectly loving nature of his Father, God, I did the same. "Fear, you aren't in charge!" I yelled. "I am not a wanderer from infinite Mind! I can't be separated from God!"

I began singing hymns and hiking with assurance, enjoying the beautiful songbirds I had been too fearful to notice before. Their variety spoke to me of the beauty and distinctness of God's spiritual creation, including my own unobscured identity and immortal purpose. With joyous conviction, I knew God was leading me.

Almost five hours after leaving the homestead, I followed power lines from the marsh to the hand-built cabin of a kind woman. She poured lemonade for me as I quietly thanked God for His deliverance. I'd learned that there is no situation too large or small to call forth God's loving control.

This precious lesson in trusting and following God's direction in the wilderness also helped me to follow my spiritual intuition into a new career path—one that blessed me and others. Glimpsing God as the source of my identity, I lost fear that I could be excluded from or lost within His infinite plan. God, Mind, needs all of His ideas forever, and as I trusted Him to employ me in reflecting His qualities in fresh, rewarding ways, my career bloomed.

Perhaps you're not facing a wilderness experience like mine. But whatever the challenge, remember that you're no stranger to God, divine Mind, and no wanderer from your perfect nature as His idea. He is ever conscious of you. And He is always leading you in the path of spiritual understanding.