Have you ever heard people say that the reason they did something that turned out to be the right or helpful thing to do was simply that they felt they should? Usually they can't explain why they felt that way, but they knew they should listen to and follow through on what they were feeling. I've had that happen to me. And when I've followed that impulsion, I've felt very right about it.

Often, what's really happening is that we're hearing God's guidance. We might think of hearing or listening to God as an awareness of His presence. God is constantly speaking to us, but at times it may seem hard to hear His voice clearly. If that's the case, it helps to follow this instruction from the Bible: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10).

Being still and acknowledging that God is God doesn't necessarily mean quieting our surroundings. It means quieting our thought. One way to do this is to pray, humbly asking, "What is it, Father, that You would have me know about You and Your direction? What do I need to understand better?" Doing this helps shut out self-will, confusion, and all the clamor that, like static on the radio, interferes with listening closely to God.

Prayer that genuinely seeks God finds God. He never lets us down. He is always here, always helping. The Psalmist must have known this. He prayed, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness" (Ps. 143:1). Because of God's faithfulness, He continuously and unerringly answers our supplications. And we hear these answers by aligning our thought with God.

Acknowledging God as the creator and governor of all, we can recognize that He is always controlling His creation harmoniously, no matter how disturbing a situation may appear. Gaining this type of spiritual awareness of His power and presence enables us to reject from thought fear or any other evil that would make us inactive or lead us to act inappropriately.

We all can gain the spiritual awareness needed to feel and hear God unerringly—and then to follow His leadings. Science and Health refers to the natural link between knowing God—being spiritually aware—and obeying Him. It states, "The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal" (p. vii). Our right apprehension of God deepens every time we feel and heed His directing.

Not long ago, the thought kept coming to me to learn more about God, especially about God as divine Life. This seemed strange to me. After all, I wasn't sick. I didn't feel that I was going to die. Everything was OK. But I became more and more uneasy, and each time I prayed, that same thought would occur to me. So, I obeyed and began praying to understand more thoroughly divine Life.

As I prayed and read passages from the Bible and Science and Health, I learned that Life elucidates God and man's coexistence. God is Father-Mother, and man— the true being of each of us—is God's child. Created by our Father-Mother to be like Him, we express the immortality of Life. I learned more about God as Life, listening closely to His directing. And the more I listened, the more I was able to recognize my coexistence with Him.

After about two weeks of praying in this manner, I was driving on a busy freeway. I was familiar with this particular road and had gotten in the bad habit of not watching things very carefully. I came around a blind corner, and right in front of me was a parked car with a man standing beside it. Without fear or hesitation I instantly changed lanes, missing the parked car, the man, and a car that had just passed me. I was so grateful for the protection of everyone that it didn't occur to me until four days later that, had I not heeded God's direction, the accident could have been tragic for all involved. After this incident the constant urging to learn more about God as Life subsided, and I no longer felt uneasy or agitated. I recognized that by feeling—hearing—and following God's directing to learn more about my coexistence with Him, I was able to be unafraid and responsive to the right course of action.

When we have times or moments of feeling we should do something, these feelings can lead us to discern—and obey—God's directing. Thus we develop our spiritual awareness and know that we are safe with God.