A home we can’t be evicted from
Unexpectedly asked to vacate their flat without a refund, a man and his wife turned to God for a deeper understanding of home as spiritual and permanent. In short order, an unforeseen housing option emerged that perfectly met their need.
At one time, my family lived in a rented apartment in a mini-estate made up of tenement flats, in the beautiful bed town of Kuje in Abuja, Nigeria. One day, while at the office, I received a call from my wife, who said that we had unexpectedly been asked to vacate our home due to a court order that had been served to the estate. The court’s judgment had evidently concluded a few months earlier, but the tenants had not been notified until the eviction day.
I sensed a lot of commotion and fear at the site, but I thought of the opening line of a song I love: “Home is the consciousness of good” (Rosemary C. Cobham, alt., “Christian Science Hymnal: Hymns 430-603,” No. 497). This hymn awakens me to the unbounded degree of comfort and care from God that we can readily find right where we are, when our consciousness is open to God’s goodness.
I felt the added pressure of having been interrupted in my work, as it was a very busy day with an especially urgent assignment. Pausing to seek inspiration, I turned to the Bible and read this passage: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19).
As I read this, I shook off the fear that was beginning to build. God is the one true Mind, and governs all harmoniously. Thoughts of chaos or helplessness are lifted as we realize that they have no basis in God, good.
This brought me the calm I needed to complete my tasks and hand things over properly to my colleague before leaving work. As I drove back home over the next hour, work calls unexpectedly ceased, leaving me feeling more peaceful and free.
By the time I reached home, the police had concluded moving our belongings out onto the street. My wife and I recognized that they were just doing their job, and we neither insulted nor argued with them. A book called “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science, explains: “This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord and dismay; on the other side there will be Science and peace” (p. 96). We determined to lean on the side of good, affirming God’s care for His children and trusting God’s leading.
We were able to move temporarily into the home of a friend and started searching immediately for a new accommodation, but we did not have any money. (Our remaining rent for the previous flat had not been refunded.)
Science and Health says: “Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth” (p. 95). The reality is that none of God’s children, which includes all of us, can be uncared for or without a place. God maintains us in a spiritual state of safety. No matter what the situation may look like, our spiritual home remains untouched. Praying in this manner, we endeavored to found our sense of home “upon a rock” (see Matthew 7:24, 25).
Four days after the eviction, we moved into a beautiful home in a beautiful neighborhood, an opportunity that came about because the former occupants were moving to another country for work. The new house was secure, spacious, and well maintained. A family member lent us the rent, which we were able to repay at the end of that month from a surprising bonus wage package at work.
These lessons and proofs of God’s care continue to be a source of inspiration for me, my family, and our friends.
Sometimes our day does not turn out the way we expected it would. Yet even in such cases it is possible to see that God’s abundant care is indeed right at hand.
Adapted from an article published in the Nov. 11, 2019, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.