My husband and I were flying from the United States back home to Spain, and had missed the connecting flight. Before getting on our rescheduled flight, we asked if our luggage was on the plane. We learned that not only was it not on the flight, it may never have been put on the original plane in the first place. The airline employee said it could take months to find.

I felt as though my husband and I were billiard balls, hit aimlessly by other balls—one called a “missed connecting flight,” another named “missing luggage”—and there was nothing we could do about it. I felt helpless and I knew I needed quickly to counteract the feeling that this situation was out of our control.

We were used to turning to God in times of trouble and it was natural for us to pray. I affirmed that Mind, God, was in control. While this was in direct opposition to my initial reaction, I knew that nothing was truly outside of God’s care.

Furthermore, we realized that everyone could respond to Mind, and express order, intelligence, thoughtfulness, and intuition. Mostly, my husband and I were each praying individually, but there were times throughout the day that we’d acknowledge the power and direction of Principle, God, to one another.

We stayed with these spiritual facts and decided not to board the flight until we knew something more about our luggage.

As we prayed further, we also took steps to find out what was going on. We really felt our prayers had led us to a supervisor who was kind and calm. With his help, we learned that the luggage was in the airport somewhere, but no one knew the exact location. We went to the lost luggage area, which was piled high with unclaimed bags. Right there, I prayed to feel the oneness of God, Love, and to see that Her children could never lose their spiritual harmony and goodness. Nor could they be overwhelmed by that big pile of bags! Spiritual intuition would guide us.

Throughout the day, one phrase kept going through my head: “man can’t lose aught that is real.” This was the gist of a sentence from Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.302. The complete sentence reads, “It is impossible that man should lose aught that is real, when God is all and eternally his.”

This doesn’t mean that God was tracking our suitcases and their contents. What it does mean is that the spiritual ideas that luggage represents—order, harmony, and usefulness—can never be lost or taken from us. The spiritual solution didn’t necessarily involve the return of our bags, but it would have to include a sense of harmony and completeness.

We looked among the bags but found nothing. Then I spotted two of our suitcases on a moving carousel. I was tempted to feel disappointed when the other bags didn’t show up. But with gratitude, my husband and I reminded ourselves that we—like every one of God’s children—lived in the kingdom of God, where no lack or disorder could occur. Nothing could separate anyone from the good they daily receive from God.

We returned to our hotel. That evening, the third suitcase was sent to us and we learned that the last suitcase had been found and would be on our newly rescheduled flight the next day. We decided to take this flight because we thought all our luggage would be with us.

But the final bag didn’t arrive. It had been marked with someone else’s name and shipped to another destination in England. At this point, the situation was almost laughable.

We could see that we were being tempted to believe God wasn’t present. But we didn’t buy it. We affirmed that Mind was in control now and always had been, even though the suitcase was still missing. We were confident that Mind would supply the intelligence, wisdom, and discernment we needed in order to work things out.

I got a new insight into the whole situation with airport luggage after we got back to Spain. I was watching the news a few days later, and one report said there had been a rise in lost luggage at airports. This alerted me to pray on a broader scale. I once again affirmed that no so-called law of chance could undermine the spiritual law of harmony and good whose source was divine Principle, God. This is a law that blesses everyone, not just me and my husband.

We wrote to the airline about our situation, and were told we’d be compensated for the loss. As grateful as we were, we continued to trust that God was always providing for us, right down to the smallest detail.

Our prayers were answered. Five weeks after our luggage first went missing, the final bag arrived with all its contents. This proved to me once again that as we rely on God’s all-powerful law of harmony, we will feel the effects of His loving care.