I’ve just been catching up on the recent material posted on the Association website, and I have to respond to the Note from Iraq, which talks about getting human will out of the way. A lesson one can’t learn too often!  

Last Sunday, as I was getting ready to leave for church and putting the breakfast dishes in the sink, I realized that the water was not running. Frozen pipes! A thought to send a chill through anyone living in a frigid climate.

My subsequent frenzy warmed me up quickly enough. I checked the electric circuits several times. Nope, no problems there. The water pressure gauge read zero. I called my artesian well guy, but no answer (Sunday morning). Phoned my nephew, who began to outline various procedures we would follow when he came over. Normally, I would have skipped church to deal with such a problem. But as I talked to my nephew, I decided, “I’m going to let God take care of this for me. My right place is in church at this moment, so I’m going.” Told my nephew we could handle the situation when I got back.

On the way to church, I quieted the frantic fears that tried to surface, as well as the straying thoughts attempting to outline human solutions, with the absolute confidence that God had a valuable lesson here for me—whether the solution was easy or not. All I had to do was take it step by step. I completely believed this prayer, that God was in control and would show me the way out. I must have been growing Godward during the past two difficult years with my new house, because I actually found this easy to do. Fear and despair were totally extinguished. During the service, any drifting of thought towards the problem was met with my prayer of trust in God and confidence that He was with me all the way. I knew that and rested in it. Hymn 406 from the service still echoes in thought, “Man is the child of God.” Our loving parent can and does take good care of us. I even had the ease of spirit to run a couple of errands before coming home.

Before leaving the house for church, I had followed my nephew’s recommendation that I leave the faucet in the bathroom sink open a crack. When I returned home, I was greeted with the sound of running water. 

I have to admit, I’m so-o-o glad God’s solution was easy after all! But I have read testimonies (like the snowmobile one on our own website a few years ago) where, even though the solution was more complex, it seemed to go easily, with all the pieces falling wonderfully into place. I guess what really makes any solution “easy” is this: letting go of human will, and letting in the divine. That’s what happened in the Note from Iraq; and it’s what happened last Sunday morning in frigid Maine!