Need a Family?
It was 1:30 in the morning. I was wakened by a call from a friend. She was leaving a home she'd lived in for decades and moving to another place over a thousand miles away. That day she had started out alone on the long drive to this new location.
Stopped in a motel along the way, she was now afraid and couldn't sleep. Things hadn't been going well; only that morning, she'd learned that the house she had planned to buy had unexpectedly become unavailable. Now she had no place to go! Suddenly, the whole idea of giving up a home she'd loved and launching off into new territory began to look overwhelming.
My friend needed comfort! She needed encouragement. And especially, she needed the support of love. That's why she called.
We began to pray, together. She knew from many years' study of the Bible that her true home was in God; that she was a member of God's family forever; and that her divine home was always within consciousness. Home is right where we are at any moment because God is always with us. His is the home we have wherever we go.
Christian Science had shown my friend she was always greatly loved and cared for, spoken to and comforted by God, her heavenly Father and Mother. She knew that God can be understood as the divine Mind. She knew that fear such as she was struggling with is like a fog that seems to hide the sun, but that in fact is unable to stop warmth and light from breaking through.
My friend remembered from past experience with prayer that fear and discouragement couldn't stop her from finding, with God's guidance, the right place to live, a circle of new friends, a loving church family.
After promising to pray more for her, I said good night. And I continued to listen to God, seeking His angel messages - His comforting, instructing thoughts. The message I particularly loved hearing that late night was one reminding me that, when there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn at the Saviour's birth, the baby Jesus was safely and warmly cradled in a stable. The Bible says that he was visited by shepherds and heralded by angels. I remembered that when opposition to his holy purpose on earth threatened his life, God guided Jesus' family into Egypt until the threat was passed.
That angel message showed me that when any of us are embarking on a new step in life, we are protected, and we are guided in thought and deed. Truly, we are surrounded by angels and shepherds! We are not moving into unknown territory, but are progressing within God's universal family.
Warmed by this prayer, I fell asleep. And so, as I later learned, did my friend. She made the rest of her journey feeling a keen awareness of God's love and care for her. She was welcomed in the new location. She did find a church family. And she found a lovely home that was very suitable and more affordable than the first one had been.
Even if we tried, not one of us could escape God's care or His strong, guiding hand. We are always at home in His family. The understanding of this fact is shown practically in our being shepherded into activities and experiences that bless, heal, and enrich. Not one member of God's household can ever lack any good. Because God's care is complete and His love is omnipotent, we cannot be sorrowful or sick or fearful. We just have to understand this.
"Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, promises, "Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God" (Pg. 254). This repeats the Bible's assurance, "In him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). The heavenly home and family of God are spiritual, and so they can never be taken from us.
Whatever your present circumstances, you are truly always at home in God's household, blessed and secure. There can never be a more loving, giving, stable family environment than the family of God. Perhaps all that's needed for you to find home is to awake and see where you already are!
* The Christian Science Journal, a monthly magazine, contains in-depth articles on Christian Science.
