Only God Has the Answer

FOR many years after my husband passed on, I continued to enjoy the house and grounds that had been made beautiful by his loving and efficient hands. How could I ever think of selling this lovely place? Yet as the years moved on, caring for it became more and more of a responsibility.

As I normally do each time I face a decision or need to solve some other problem, I prayed and listened to God for an answer to the situation. At first I was afraid I wouldn't know what to do, but as I prayed, I remembered the prophets in the Old Testament. Not only did they talk to God, but they listened to what He had to tell them. And He always answered them. So I prayed a long time, expecting an answer, just as the prophets of Old Testament days did.

While thinking about how close the prophets were to God, I was reminded of a verse in the book of Isaiah. It gives us this wonderful message from God: ''Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness'' (41:10).

This verse comforted me, and I became less fearful. In a short time, I was able to make the decision to sell. I listed the property with a real estate agent. The first day it was on the market, it sold. The purchaser also bought some items of furniture that I would not need when I moved.

The property sold so quickly, however, that I found myself asking, Where am I to go? But I continued to pray, and realized that God doesn't work halfway, but all the way. I realized that because home is a spiritual concept, not a material location, there would be a place that was just right for me. When I telephoned the manager of an apartment facility, he said, ''I have just the apartment for you.'' It was the first call I made in my search for a new home. I didn't need to make another!

In a short time I moved, and I have never been happier. Later I learned there are normally long waiting lists for the apartments in this building.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes of God, divine Love, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, ''Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need'' (p. 494). I found it immensely comforting to realize that God doesn't need to know anything about our human needs, because He has already met them! God is Spirit, and all that exists is God and what He creates, which is spiritual and good. We're His creation, and we reflect Him in every detail. Therefore our human need is to conform ourselves to the expression of spiritual ideas, ideas that demonstrate the true nature of the Supreme Being. It requires absolute consecration to see ourselves as God created us in His likeness. But our need and our ability to do this are God-given and always present.

God's love ensures that all of us are in the right place, always reflecting Love. Christ Jesus trusted God's care for him so completely that he didn't even have a home, in the conventional sense. But he could assure us with complete confidence, ''In my Father's house are many mansions'' (John 14:2).

We do not live in the flesh, but in our Father's house, which is already our dwelling place. As His children, perfect and wholly spiritual, we are never growing too old to have a beautiful home, but are always growing in our expression of divine Love.

The Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly magazine, contains more articles about God's power to heal.

The Lord is nigh

unto all them that call upon him,

to all that call upon him

in truth.

He will fulfil the desire

of them that fear him:

he also will hear their cry,

and will save them.

The Lord preserveth

all them that love him.

Psalms 145:18-20