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Safe in an emergency

It’s one thing to believe that God is always present, but at a moment when a car crash seemed inevitable, today’s contributor had to know it.

  • By Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
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While traveling with a friend, I was driving on a single-lane mountain road that had a sheer drop-off on one side and a wall of stone on the other – no shoulder for pulling over on either side. As we rounded a blind curve, we confronted both a flock of sheep crossing the road and a large truck barreling toward us. With no space to veer out of the way, some kind of collision seemed inevitable.

In my practice of Christian Science, I had already experienced how prayer is a quick aid in emergencies. So my reaction in this situation was a quick and simple prayer: “God!”

That single-word prayer wasn’t a curse or a fearful reaction. Behind it was a vigorous affirmation of the presence and power of God and His care for us all. Christian Science discoverer Mary Baker Eddy, through studying the Bible and proving its practicality through healing, came to a multifaceted understanding of the nature of God as the all-seeing, all-knowing divine Mind that governs us as His spiritual expressions, moving in harmony with each other. And she taught that the honest yearning to better know the reality of what God is and does for His creation enables us to see more of His care in our lives.

Mrs. Eddy’s primary text on Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” affirms: “Harmonious action proceeds from Spirit, God.…

“… God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss. ‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty’ ” (pp. 480, 481).

Christ Jesus sometimes referred to this spiritual consciousness of liberty as the kingdom of heaven and other times as the kingdom of God, always with us in either case – God’s supreme government present within us all. He explained: “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20, 21).

In that moment on the road I glimpsed something of God’s kingdom; I felt a deep and sudden spiritual awareness of God and of His creation as reflecting, expressing, and experiencing God’s harmony at every moment. This broke through the fear. And as inexplicable as it seemed under the circumstances, I’m grateful to report that there was no crash, and the people and sheep were unharmed.

As God’s precious children, we all have the capacity to experience the kingdom of God here and now – to feel God’s goodness, power, presence, and harmony – in any situation. No emergency is required to propel one there; we can turn to God at any time and experience a better, broader sense of health and harmony. But should we find ourselves in an urgent situation, turning instantly to God with a heartfelt affirmation of His loving care for us all can bring the help and protection we need.

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