Expect God’s goodness . . . immediately!

Several years ago, a friend shared an experience during the Wednesday meeting of our branch Church of Christ, Scientist. She’d been with her three-year-old son at a hotel pool, and as she turned to set her things down, her child stepped off into the deep end of the pool. She had rushed over to the pool’s edge, ready to jump in, but just then her son popped back up to the surface near the side, where she could easily pull him to safety. The boy was unafraid. As he was toweled off, the mother asked him what he was thinking when he fell in. He said, “Mama, I don’t know how to swim, so I said, ‘Get under me quick, God!’ ” He expected to be helped by God and was saved.

When we expect immediate help from God, we receive it. Why is this so? The Bible tells us that God is ever present. Christian Science further brings out that God is all-acting and full of love for us. God is our Father-Mother, and we can never step out of Her care. God has created us spiritually: indestructible, innocent, free from harm. To turn to God, as this little one did, is to anticipate—and then receive—only good.

Here’s an example from the Bible of instantaneous care: “As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.” Jesus then assured her: “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (Luke 8:42–44, 48, New International Version).