[“Wonderfully Sustained by Truth” Part 2 of 2]
It was suggested that each of us say aloud something Scientific. My husband repeated the Scientific Statement of Being (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. p. 464). [Mr. Christie] repeated those dear consoling words of our Leader, “Peace, be still! our Father is at the helm.” Then I repeated the first verse of the ninety-first Psalm: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” and I was followed by our little one, who, throughout it all had been so courageous and brave, with the first verse of our Mother’s beautiful poem “Satisfied:”—
It matters not,
What be thy lot
So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine—
Pure peace is thine—
What’er betide.
We then silently tried to realize God’s Allness and to know that “He holds the wind in His fist.”
About eleven o’clock Nezzell noticed that the water was receding, and in some unforeseen way we found a lamp and some dry matches and were thus enabled to see.
Our experience lasted from five o’clock in the afternoon until half past two the next morning. Most of that time we were in the water. We never experienced the slightest trouble of any kind. Once, while standing on the stove, Nezzell (who was very thinly dressed) complained of being cold. Mr. [Christie], without knowing how it got there or where it came from, reached out and found a coat of his floating around on something. It proved to be a heavy one, and although soaked with water, kept her warm nicely. Again, when I seemed to be chilled, he was able to reach a pair of portières, which served to keep us warm, wet as they were.
But not until we were able to leave our house did we realize how wonderfully we had been protected and how much we had to be thankful for. We found that our house had floated a distance of two squares, and upon going around to where it had stood a realization of the awful destruction that had been wrought dawned upon us, for where, that afternoon, we had looked out upon hundreds of pretty homes in front of us, was now a barren waste, the houses were piled up in mountains of wreckage all around us, while our house had been carried to the highest part of the highest street in the neighborhood and there it stood perfectly intact, out of harm’s way from the floating debris which would surely have demolished it had we not gone when we did. Surely did we feel grateful that we had placed our safety in our Father’s hands with the feeling that “not my will, but Thine, be done,” knowing full well that “He doeth all things well.”
We attribute our safety entirely to Christian Science, and we are striving to show our gratitude to our Leader by following more closely in her footsteps, learning of her greater humility, deeper love, and broader charity for all mankind.
-— Mary E. Christie, Galveston, Tex.