Divine Guidance GRACE A. WILLIAMS          When in doubt and perplexity, knowing not which way to turn, and seemingly lost in the wilderness and chaos of mortal mind, we need only appeal to the divine Mind for guidance; for experience teaches that the human mind is no guide, but ever leads astray. Unerring guidance must always come from above the erring human mind, as the following incident will show.          A friend and I had been lost for three hours in a trackless mountain forest. Divine Science was then new to me; I had only glimpsed the teachings of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, which my mother had been studying for a year, but I had seen in reading the chapter on Prayer that it contained the truth and essence of Christianity. Now, bewildered and lost in the dark, silent forest, in which was neither life nor light, I stumbled on blindly, not knowing whither to go nor which way to turn, while my companion, I soon noticed, kept turning to the right, as erring mortal mind in its confusion leads lost people to do. I told him of this tendency, and he threw up his hands and with white, despairing face said: "Well, then, suppose you take the lead. I have not the faintest idea which way to go."          For a moment all looked black to me, for I was as hopelessly dazed as my companion. Standing there, gazing blankly at the unresponsive wilderness on every side, lo, through that awful stillness came a "still small voice" whispering, "Apply Christian Science!" I snatched at this angelic monition, and began to work with what little I knew of divine Truth. I tried to realize God's omnipresence and never-failing care; to realize that His ideas could not be lost or get out of their proper places, because infinite intelligence knows where all His ideas are and never loses sight of them. I soon began to see that as there was no confusion in the one Mind, His ideas could not go astray or become confused. I had worked in this way, still walking on, for about ten minutes, when suddenly I seemed to be all cleared up mentally, and I began to see that if we turned back to the left and advanced in a straight diagonal line, we would eventually reach the place of intersection of the two main roads. It was so clear to me that I was able to make my friend see it, and so entirely to his satisfaction that he was willing to go the opposite way from which we had been going, for this reversal of direction was the outcome of the spiritual enlightenment of my thought.          With uncertainty and confusion gone, and still working in Science, I forged rapidly ahead, regardless of swamp and bog, for even in these miry places we always seemed to find secure ground on which to step. I continued in a strangely undeviating line, always at the same direct angle, past many obstacles and difficulties; but it never seemed right to turn out of the path for anything that loomed up. We climbed, crawled, and waded, until at last we saw, after being cheated by several false openings, a white farmhouse amid broad meadows in the distance through the thinning ranks of trees. If we had continued straight ahead, we would have walked directly into the ell of the farmhouse, so unerring was the path over which the divine hand had led us, and if we could have walked through the house walls, we would have eventually come to the intersection of the two main roads without one deflection from our path. It had taken an hour for us to get out of the woods, and we had been lost from ten in the morning until two in the afternoon, the hour at which we reached the farmhouse. My friend had often lost hope during our long way out, not having that sweet secret which was guiding me and buoying me up with hope and confidence.          Did not Moses tell the Israelites again and again not to turn either to the right hand or to the left hand, even as God had commanded him, on their long march out of Egypt, the land of dark and confused mortal mind, into the land (consciousness) of light and love? When in trouble, perplexity, and despair, can we wisely turn anywhere but to the divine Mind for wisdom, guidance, enlightenment? Can mortal mind, which causes all these troubles, give us wisdom, guidance, enlightenment? Did not Abraham start out alone for the unknown country, not knowing whither he went, but trusting the divine guidance unfalteringly? Blind mortals do not see the paths they are taking, but the divine hand leads unerringly those who clasp it in unquestioning faith, for in Truth there is no error.   "Divine Guidance" by Grace A. Williams Christian Science Sentinel, March 1, 1913

 

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