Don't give up!

NO matter how bad things seem to be, there's a way out. This way isn't necessarily found in another place at another time. It isn't achieved by giving in or giving up. The way out starts with our recognizing that there is an all-powerful, all-good, and omnipresent God, and that we are His beloved children. Perhaps the challenge you face makes you feel less than loved or cared for. Perhaps circumstances make you feel afraid. But you can and should challenge that fear, because God never made it. God didn't make anything bad. God, infinite divine Love, could never make anything painful or limiting, nor could he permit it. Evil, then, is not a product of God but of the universal belief in a power apart from God. We don't have to accept that belief or experience its fraudulent effects. No matter how we would be invited to believe otherwise, God is all-powerful, omnipresent good, and this understanding opens the door to freedom and healing. We can hold on to this spiritual truth through prayer, and we can feel this truth holding us, supporting us, and carrying us through the hard times. Most people can feel strongly the difference between good and evil. In their hearts they can feel what is genuinely good and what is wrong and bad. The honest heart knows. Sometimes life can seem like an endless struggle between good and evil. When we are sore pressed, we might wonder, ``Which is going to win?'' Of course, the heart pleads for good to win. But when the heart is fearful that evil or pain could win, we need to stand fast for the spiritual fact of God's allness and all-powerful goodness. In the Christian Science textbook, Mary Baker Eddy 1 writes, referring to the divine nature, ``Truth is always the victor.'' 2 Christian Science, in accord with Christ Jesus' teachings, shows us how to win. It shows us that this spiritual reality of God's allness and goodness includes the fact that evil could not be a power or a presence. Not only is evil the opposite of omnipotent good; it is an impossible contradiction of it. The textbook, Science and Health, says, ``There is no power apart from God.'' 3 If your heart tells you that sickness, sin, suffering, loneliness, poverty, are not good, then your heart can also rejoice in the fact that these are not God-created or God-permitted and are definitely not God's will for you or anyone else. They have no real power. So don't surrender to them! All the power there is comes from God, and man is the very likeness of God, the reflection of His perfect being. This is who each of us really is. It's our true identity as God has created us. No fear or pressure, mental or physical, can deprive us of this identity or of the divine power that makes free. ``Beloved, now are we the sons of God,'' 4 the Bible assures us. And elsewhere we read, ``Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.'' 5 There are many illustrations in the Bible of seemingly hopeless situations that were resolved through understanding God's omnipotent goodness and love. And this healing is still going on today. Diseases, including those considered incurable, are being healed through divine power. Broken hearts and lives are being restored. Complicated difficulties are being resolved. If you need further encouragement and reassurance about these things, your help is close at hand. You can turn to the Bible and to Science and Health, which can be found at any Christian Science Reading Room. Also, Christian Science churches welcome all. And practitioners are available to help individuals through prayer. But the most important thing to remember is that God, all-powerful good, is with you right now. God's infinite love is present to guide you. Your God-given heritage is pe ace and freedom, and you can prove it. 1 The Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. 2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 380. 3 Ibid., p. 228. 4 I John 3:2. 5 Isaiah 44:8.