Travel Documents Needs Met and Healed of Illness During Travel Plus Other Blessings

A dear friend who attended the same Christian Science Sunday School growing up told me that she fell away from Christian Science because she felt that the way it was practiced in her family, and the testimonies she heard seemed so selfish. She specifically told me about testimonies she would hear about people who had been in war zones, and they talked about how they’d been protected when others around them had not been. She kept thinking why weren’t they praying for everyone. Or somebody who didn’t get a parking ticket despite coming back late to their car and she would think why aren’t they praying for more important things than parking tickets. But now I know that she was experiencing just one of the many ways that the churches and many Christian Scientists have fallen away from the true practice of Christian Science. Here at Plainfield the testimonies and teachings are individual proofs of the allness of

God, for the good of all Gods Children. I find it interesting that when animal magnetism tries to talk me out of sharing a testimony, I often fall into the trap of thinking that what I have to share isn’t significant enough. Don’t give one of those parking ticket testimonies the mortal mind will whisper, and so I don’t say anything at all. Well I’ve made God a promise to stop listening to lies and to start sharing more demonstrations of God’s omnipotence and love. So why then is tonight’s testimony about rental cars? Hopefully at the end you’ll know.

A few years ago I flew overseas for a work trip, and I had to rent a car when I landed. The day before I was supposed to leave I started to feel unwell, so I called my Plainfield practitioner and with her support I was able to fly overseas by holding to seeing every single person I encountered in my travels as one of God’s children. It was such a glorious experience. Then I arrived early in the morning at my destination only to discover that I brought my passport but not my driver’s license so I was unable to rent the car I’d reserved. My destination was two hours away and I needed the car for the trip. I didn’t know what to do. So a nice young man at a different counter overheard my dilemma and said he would try to help me. I went to the restroom and I was praying and when I came out he said to me, an idea just came to me. Walk to the far end of the lot and talk to the guy at Hertz. I feel like he’s going to be able to help you.

Now mind you, my car was not reserved from Hertz but knowing that the idea came from God I did just that, and the guy from Hertz found my Hertz membership and my driver’s license happened to be on file and he rented me a car. I’ll never forget that two-hour drive, it was exactly what Izzy’s always describing. There were these beautiful green hills covered with skipping newborn lambs, and even though I got to my hotel and my room was not ready I found a quiet spot where I could snooze and pray. I spent that whole day deep in prayer and with the support of my practitioner woke up feeling fully well for two long 12-hour days of work. Well that experience came back to me a few weeks ago on another verseas work trip when I also felt unwell. Having demonstrated the allness of God before, I knew to contact my practitioner and get down to praying. The more I prayed just holding to the allness of God the clearer it became to me that what we’re learning here in Plainfield about trials being opportunities to demonstrate God’s allness was absolutely true,beca use I just felt more and more joy and gratitude for my closeness to God. So the more closeness I felt the less anything else felt real.

So maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when at the end of that first phase of my trip I went to the airport to rent a car only to discover that this was the only country where you need an international driver’s license. No one would rent me a car. This time I didn’t even bother worrying. I knew God would have the answer. So it came of no surprise when I heard a voice across a crowded rental car concourse say, “can I help you with something.” I told this guy my dilemma and he told me that locally owned companies were exempt from that rule and he could rent me a car which he did. But this is not a testimony about how to rent a car when you don’t have the proper paperwork, and I’m not going to give you a formulaic prayer should you ever find yourself in a similar circumstance, because what I’m learning is none of these demonstrations were about the results. These were two work trips where I had to turn so wholeheartedly to God in one area that I couldn’t get tempted to think I had to find the solution to a problem in another, and that’s exactly what I continue to need to learn all too often on an average day.

I wake up in the morning and I say God is Mind, God is my mind, and then somehow I end up thinking I’m the one working for my clients, or writing the email, or making the work decisions, or even deciding what groceries to buy. Slowly but surely with each trial I’m learning that when I wholeheartedly turn to God, and often I’m sorry to say it happens when I have no other choice, I then experience the allness of God. That’s when I understand how the trials we experience bless us, and they will cease when they cease to bless. Because every trial is blessing me and teaching me to only acknowledge the allness of God. There’s an article on the carousel by Peter V Ross called “Personal Sense of Perjurer.” He says there are not two worlds, there are not two minds, there are not two lives, there are not two kinds of people, but one God, one Mind, one life, one kind of person, and the only way to learn this is to demonstrate this. That’s what I learned on these trips. I had to learn that there was never some separate unwell me and there are no exceptions to that rule. I’m so grateful for every testimony meeting, every round table, where I learned that what blesses each of us blesses every single person, and that that is the true Christian Science. Even if it sometimes seems like it’s being demonstrated on rental cars. Christian Science is about the healing of the world and I’m so grateful to everyone, especially all the people who have brought all the material that we get to read to the world, and to the unwavering support of my practitioner. Thank you everyone for all you do to bring this Christian Science to the world.