Never separated from God
I felt lost. My friends and family were a thousand miles away as I began my college experience. I was very shy and didn’t understand how to create a new life for myself. At first, I felt hopeless.
But then I began to learn about my identity as God’s precious child. I discovered that God is always with me, no matter how the structure and focus of my life changes.
Fundamentally, it’s God – not human relationships, circumstances, or patterns – that defines our life. Our identity and stability aren’t dependent on where we are; they can’t be left back home. They’re found in God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, who expresses that love to and through all of us as His children. Our relation to God is the constant in our lives.
In “The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, refers to rising “above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing” (p. 165). This describes actions that are independent of specific locations or individuals. It’s about actively reflecting God’s nature, the qualities that God expresses in each of us, everywhere, always.
This reason for existing is constant even as the scenes of our lives change. We can trust that God’s plan for us is good, because God is infinitely good. Mrs. Eddy’s primary work on Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” says, “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love” (p. 66).
When we are confronted by dizzying change, we can become very quiet inside and listen for God’s voice. God is always communicating to us the love and guidance we need. God is the Rock upon which we stand. Like a rock, God is steady, sure, dependable, and unmovable, unlike the shifting sands of human experience.
In college, I found that as I acted upon the inspiration of my prayers, wonderful new vistas opened up. Instead of passively waiting for things to happen, I learned to actively follow the direction of God, exemplified and articulated by Jesus, to love myself and others (see Matthew 22:36-40). This helped me break through my shell of shyness, make friends, and find happiness.
If we’re feeling lost, we can look to God to find the purpose of our life – to love God and to love others – and experience the blessings this brings to those around us and ourselves, too.
