About fifteen years ago, a nighttime revelation saved my husband and me.

We had bought and were managing a partly tenanted apartment building in central London. We had wanted to include the existing tenants in the purchase of the property in order that everyone might own their own leases. All had gone well apart from one individual who had initially attempted to buy the building himself, but had been unable to raise the finance.

Several years passed, and although this individual often seemed uncooperative in the running of the building, we all seemed to rub along quite happily. However, at one point a major repair to the building was required that impacted this individual’s flat. He refused to give access to his unit in order to carry out the repair, which led to deterioration and damage to the building. Despite our attempts to sort out the matter, he eventually instigated legal action against us and we were faced with a substantial claim based on damage to his flat. My husband and I suddenly faced potential bankruptcy.

The legal process went to an initial hearing, in which the judge seemed supportive of our position. Still, years of correspondence and evidence had to be collected and collated. It was a mammoth task. This individual’s solicitor was given access to all our files and records, and he visited our home to go through everything.

I clung to the spiritual fact that we were innocent of intentional wrongdoing, of lack of love for our neighbor, of human condemnation.

During this time, I prayed wholeheartedly on my own and with the support of a Christian Science practitioner. The practitioner drew my attention to the fact of man’s absolute and unassailable innocence from wrongdoing. “Man” in this context refers to all men and women, including my husband and me, and including our uncooperative tenant! I began to see that our motive in buying the building had been a right one, and that we were innocent of any intentional wrongdoing. The fear of having made a mistake had to be challenged—and at times that fear was daunting, as the stakes were so high. But I clung to the spiritual fact that we were innocent of intentional wrongdoing, of lack of love for our neighbor, of human condemnation. Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health, “Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error” (p. 568). I held to that pure sense of innocence, knowing that it destroys the false sense of guilt, fear, and loss.

Eventually we received a date for the full hearing together with a comprehensive dossier of photographic evidence, letters, and documents substantiating the plaintiff’s claim for damages. It looked like a cut-and-dried case and appeared very frightening. During this time I continued praying with the practitioner and learning more of the nature of God’s power and protection. I had to see that the substance of our prosperity and supply had nothing to do with material possessions and that we could not be punished for unwitting or unintended mistakes.

Shortly after receiving this thick dossier of evidence from the claimant, my husband stayed up all night going through it with a fine-toothed comb. Our surveyor, who advised us on building maintenance, had already conceded defeat based on the evidence, but we were not prepared to go down that road. 

I shall never forget coming downstairs in the morning to see my husband, his eyes bright and twinkly, saying that we would be able to confirm our innocence. After inspecting every date and detail in the dossier, he had found a letter, purporting to give evidence of our liability, but the date on the letter proved conclusively that other allegations could not be true. This proved our innocence. The whole case collapsed, and the claimant’s solicitors speedily withdrew the claim.

The evidence had seemed irrefutable, and the case against us so totally sustained. What was it that shone a light on that dark picture during the night my husband spent searching? How was it that what appeared so apparently irrefutable to all was suddenly shifted to a totally different perspective—such that a significant piece of evidence couldn’t be obscured? It’s clear to me that only the power of Truth, revealed through prayer, could have led us to this piece of evidence proving our innocence.

In the chapter “The Apocalypse” in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy wrote of how the “wolves in sheep’s clothing are detected and killed by innocence, the Lamb of Love” (p. 567). This idea, brought forth in our experience, recently reminded me of a certain part of the Bible story that tells of Esther and her cousin Mordecai. In the story, Mordecai foils a plot against the life of King Ahasuerus, but his great service goes unnoticed by the king. Later, when the king cannot sleep, he learns of Mordecai’s deed: “That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus” (Esther 6:1, 2, New King James Version).

It was an inspired uncovering of the truth that revealed the reality of Mordecai’s loyalty, and ultimately paved the way for the safety of the Jewish people. As the truth was revealed to King Ahasuerus in the night, so also was the error of this lawsuit uncovered and the truth revealed to my husband and me. I credit both as divinely impelled directives brought about by the law of God. Salvation comes through the Almighty’s power to deliver from threats of disaster—and so it will always be.

How grateful I was for the clear principled direction that uncovered the error and revealed the truth, for my husband’s persistence and assiduousness, and all this experience taught me of God’s power and protective care.