Everything's All Right

It is possible to pray and feel as a result that everything is going to be all right. There are times of deep trust that God is governing, watching, protecting. Perhaps this feeling could be called heavenly inspiration. It's the inspiration of God influencing all that concerns us and overpowering anything that would turn us from Him.

The Bible says in Galatians, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (5:22, 23). These qualities, held in your thought, are not long out of your life. Qualities such as these help us to draw close to God, to find Him when we seek Him, and to understand we are always in His presence.

Maybe you've had moments of inspiration that helped you through things that were troubling you-moments of feeling secure and safe that were followed by a change for the better. This happens because thought has to be, will always be, externalized. What we think, what we believe, what we understand, must be objectified or expressed. This is why it is important to have thought focused on good. In other words, it's important to be thinking of God, who is good. Not only is He good, but He is powerful and present with you.

Yet what if we're having difficulty feeling this heavenly inspiration? What if we've been searching and searching, and don't feel any closer to God? There is something more we can do. The Bible promises in Psalms, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. . . . Be still, and know that I am God" (46:1, 10).

Being still takes discipline! But prayer helps us get physically and mentally still so we can begin to feel the security and safety of God. We then can begin feeling His love. To be still doesn't just mean to sit in a chair motionlessly. It means to take every thought that is anxious, upset, worried, fearful, or doubtful, and to cast it out. This is done only by understanding our inseparability from the peace and dominion of God. Doing this we find that anxiousness and fear are replaced with trust and confidence in God. And when such bad thoughts are replaced with good thoughts, experience is then altered for the better. We've gained inspiration from God.

This inspiration is your God-given right. It is my God-given right. There is nothing that can keep anyone from accepting it, feeling it, having it. Inspiration doesn't come vicariously or through mere words and recitations; it comes through devotion-through searching and finding the truth of who God is and what God created. This quest may begin very simply, or it may result from gaining spiritual understanding. Either way, it's a powerful way to learn.

Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, wrote Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the textbook of Christian Science. It is a book full of inspiration. And it links heavenly inspiration with the qualities of consecration, charity, gentleness, and prayer (see p. 592).

Recently I was praying-really reaching out to God-and those qualities came to my thought. I had been praying for some time to heal a physical condition, without much success. In fact it appeared to be spreading. Then one day I sat down quietly to pray some more. But this time I humbly asked God what it was that I needed to know-what I needed to do better. That's when I thought of those qualities. The words from Science and Health about heavenly inspiration stood out to me. I reasoned from my past experience with prayer that in the presence of God there is nothing but good. There is no irritation, impatience, dislike. In His presence there can be only that which is inspired by Him, not what is materially imposed. Because these are spiritual laws, I knew that I operated under them, and that they governed me and everyone around me. I held to these laws, prayed over them, thought deeply about them.

Then one day not long after, the condition was completely gone. And what's more in its place, in my thought, there was more gentleness and consecration. Fear, irritation, and the concern that matter held preponderance in me had vanished, and I was filled with the heavenly inspiration that all was right.