Family, home, and animals protected from fire

This year I received a request for metaphysical support from a dear relative. A large fire was threatening to destroy her home, barn, animals, and fields. As background, she and her husband had spent the last five years and most of their resources designing and building this house and barn. Although this relative does not consider herself a Christian Scientist, she grew up in a Christian Science family, has developed a deep trust in God, and has called for prayerful help at other times.

During our first phone call, my relative told me that there had been two neighbors she hadn’t forgiven because their actions had almost killed their animals. As the community gathered to prepare for the fire, she saw those neighbors and forgave and hugged them. It stood out to me that she wanted to share this with me when the fire was her pressing concern. It pointed me to this truth: “To have one God and avail yourself of the power of Spirit, you must love God supremely” (Science and Health 167:17). Her forgiveness was evidence of the spiritual fact that she was designed to love God, divine Love, supremely. Therefore, she was not subject to varying powers and forces, but to the one power, God, which is wholly good.

And so my prayer began with affirmations of God’s all-power and ever-presence, leaving no room for fear in anyone’s thought—mine, her family’s, the animals,’ the firefighters,’ or the community’s. The textbooks contained so many truths that girded my prayer. For example, this passage provided precise support: “There is no vapid fury of mortal mind—expressed in earthquake, wind, wave, lightning, fire, bestial ferocity—and this so-called mind is self- destroyed. The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, ‘The anger of the Lord.’ In reality, they show the self-destruction of error or matter and point to matter’s opposite, the strength and permanency of Spirit. Christian Science brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal harmony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil” (Science and Health 293:21).

After the first day and night of prayer, I received a message saying that the fire was right next to their property and the wind was blowing it their way; it would be a miracle if their buildings survived. But with the help of others, they had been able to get themselves and all their animals—their horses, goats, chickens, and dogs—to a sheltered refuge.

I continued to pray fervently throughout the next several days. Here are some of the truths that became clear to me: Although tragic events are often considered to be God’s punishment, God does not punish, but blesses, as we read in Genesis 1. God is the great I AM, the only Cause and Creator, the great Defender and Shepherd. God does not destroy hope, life, love, or home; His power only destroys what He has not created. There is, in fact, nothing with the power to destroy God’s creation, upheld by divine Principle. As the textbook proclaims, “The world would collapse without Mind, without the intelligence which holds the winds in its grasp” (Science and Health 209:10–11).

During this time, I received messages of concern about winds (they live in a very windy area), but also of gratitude for the powerful and comforting messages I was sending. After the fourth day, we received the report that nothing on their property had been touched or destroyed. There wasn’t even any burn char, though the fire crews had created a fire road at the edges of their property—proof of the loving work devoted to defending their home. In a day or two, they and their animals were able to return home, and my relatives felt a new deep gratitude for their home and all the love that had been expressed.

As I look back on my notes, I am so grateful for the ways God shepherded my thought and prayer. I’m so grateful for the breadth and specificity of Christian Science in solving whatever mortal mind claims to throw in our paths. I’m grateful for the opportunity to witness God’s protecting power. And I am grateful that, as a Christian Scientists, I could support my relative during this trying time, when what threatened to be utter destruction was instead a time of spiritual building. “Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle,—is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal (Science and Health 306:25).