Do you realize that you are going to make progress toward the goal of Life in Spirit no matter what obstacles or challenges you face? Yep, that’s right. Progress toward the good and true is inevitable, unstoppable and unavoidable. You will get there!
At times, it doesn’t seem like progress is happening. We might feel stuck in a pit of despair, or capitulating under a burden of worry, or sick with an illness. But it helps to remember that all mortal conditions are temporary. There is nothing fixed or permanent about them. They all yield to Truth. They all lose their claim to power. They all give up. It’s inevitable.
God has the final say on all topics of concern.
God is our Life, our Spirit, and our Soul. God is our all. Anything good we could ever possibly hope to have comes directly from God and is eternally ours to claim, accept and express. No temporary mortal error is going to deprive us of God’s good or separate us from it. What God gives us to enjoy is forever ours to experience.
For those times when suffering appears to have the upper hand, its well to know that the suffering is a particular error giving up a claim over us.
It’s like a time when I returned from Africa and suddenly became extremely ill to the point of fearing of losing my life. The pain seemed unbearable. I feared losing consciousness and never waking. But I continued my spiritual struggle until I lost my fear of death. Then I found my peace. Healing was swift afterward. A latent fear in the background of thought had been brought to the surface to be destroyed and a spiritual lesson learned. I made progress toward understanding Life in Spirit better, and I was permanently benefited.
And thus it is with all suffering. A fear or false belief of some type is surfacing to be destroyed. It’s inevitable. God’s law of progress demands it. All error in human consciousness has to be destroyed to make room for spiritual light and life.
And so every human experience is drawing us closer to Truth. A new view of Truth is ascending and a false belief is yielding. There is an inevitable tidal wave of Truth moving us in a progressive direction away from error and closer to God. Forward movement is unstoppable, even if mortal mind kicks and screams along the way. Divine Mind renders the final verdict.
So, don’t fear the momentum or direction. Embrace it. Learn from it. And advance rapidly!
“Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power. These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them. This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfill” Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 233.
Thanks Evan. such assurance is very much appreciated.
I’m very grateful for this sharing and insight, Evan, which re-confirms
that Christian Science is indeed the Comforter promised in the
Bible.
Thank You, God!
After we read the Bible stories of Jesus’ quick healing work, it’s easy to feel discouraged if our own healing work is not so quick. I used to fall prey to the temptation to “give up” when I didn’t see results after a few days of praying about some issue. But in the last few years I’ve learned to view these experiences differently and this new view has helped me to persevere when I don’t seem to “see” progress occurring.
I gained this new perspective after thinking back to my teenage years when I decided I wanted to learn to juggle. I remembered getting 3 tennis balls and tossing them in the air like the jugglers I had seen on TV. Well, in my first attempts I inevitably ended up dropping the balls. But I picked up the balls and tried again. Toss, drop, toss, drop, toss, drop…happened over and over. I kept trying over a period of a few weeks and eventually I was able to juggle the three balls. Woohoo!
But in thinking back on this, I realized that even though it didn’t appear that I was making progress each time I dropped the balls when attempting to juggle, I actually was learning something. So what appeared like wasted effort was actually progress. In each of those attempts I was learning a little bit about what is required to juggle until eventually all of those “little bits” added up to success.
I think the same is true with our attempts at healing. A practitioner once told me “every Christian Science treatment is successful”. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time, but now I realize that each treatment is like an attempt to juggle. At a minimum, we gain a “little bit” of spiritual growth that results in a little bit of progress towards healing.
Thank you for the reminder.
D.
Thank you Evan for this helpful reminder that progress is being made even though error tries to claim the opposite. So grateful for your blog.
comforting to know, thank you.
Evan Thank you very much a very powerful statement which I really needed today
Wow, I may put this on my dashboard so I can use it all the time. And thanks too to Brian for elucidating that progress is inevitable (with practice, attention, intention).
There is an article that I read several years ago that was very helpful along these lines, I believe it is called “The Problem of the Hickory Tree” by Louise Knight Wheatley, March 1911 Journal. You can easily find it on jsh-online.com or in the bound volumes at the reading room.
All what you have said Evan are very uplifting and comforting. Although progress seemed to have been slow for me by measuring it by each passing time but I thank God to have shown me again and again that He is Love and I too am loved and also for Mrs. Eddy’s perceiving TIME AS NOT A PART OF ETERNITY or Truth. At least I haven’t been totally discouraged until doubts gave way to hope and hope to assurance. And all your detailed illustrations or explanations are very helpful for me to carry on.
Thank you too Brian for sharing your own experience and uplifting ideas of encouragement
Thank you to you all.
“They all lose their claim to power. They all give up.” Evan, I love that!!! This column is a keeper. And I love Brian’s story, too. So uplifting. Many thanks.
It is reassuring to know that forward progress is inevitable. God is always with us and is directing every step of our lives. I loved all of the remarks especially the juggling lessons. We have so much to be grateful for.
Dear Evan; Your blog today confirms my thoughts as to the almost impossible solution to the dilemma I am working out right now having to do with a Federal Law involving private Nurse Aide help which involves acting as an employer and keeping records just as Corporations do.
One of the aides quite on her own and filed unemployment with the State that I reside and the State is asking for reimbursement for their payouts to the aide. A law that I wasn’t aware of.
To list the whole story would take nearly a book to tell. All I can say is “.THANK GOD FOR CHRISTIAN SCIENCE to get me through this.
Grateful for all the wonderful Truth’s that come in the blog’s to helpussee things more clearly in working out our demonstrations.
This is definitely a keeper! Thank you so much for the helpful insights Evan. (=
We are challenged daily for our spiritual thoughts and our progress in healing. This message is timely as I am struggling with several issues. Thanks, Evan
Thanks for this blog Evan. Just perfect for me at the moment – never give up!