Republished from the Christian Science Journal
Val Minard
Collingswood, New Jersey, US
It was the blizzard of ’76. I was in college, living in a small attic apartment in Buffalo, New York. My landlord had recently purchased the house and had decided to use the fireplace for the first time on this cold winter night.
All was well, until I woke up to the smell of smoke in the wee hours of the morning. Thinking it was my imagination, I drifted back to sleep, only to awaken a few minutes later wondering if the house could be on fire. No, that only happens in movies, I thought. But rather than go back to sleep, I decided to investigate.
As I opened the door that led to the back staircase and the landlord’s part of the house, smoke poured into my room. Unable to see through the smoke to go downstairs, I tried calling out to warn the landlord and his family—but got no response.
Half asleep and somewhat confused, I began to realize the gravity of the situation. My only staircase was inaccessible, and I couldn’t think of another escape route. It would have been easy to panic, but I was used to turning to divine help in trouble. And there wasn’t time to lose. So as I stood there in the dark, smoky room, I turned to God in prayer.
I thought about something I’d heard at a recent public talk on Christian Science. The speaker explained that the Christ is actually a living, ever-present power—active and available in my life. I was still a Sunday School student at the time, and this had seemed like a new concept to me. I realized that God wasn’t just an active force for good in Bible times—His Christ is, in fact, ever-operative in each of our lives, bringing God’s message of love to all humanity. As I considered this idea in my smoke-filled attic room, I felt a divine, all-knowing, loving power taking care of me right at that moment. This feeling was so tangible that I no longer felt desperate or afraid.
It was as if my Father-Mother God was gently taking me by the hand and protecting me, the way Mary Baker Eddy described when she wrote: “Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance” (The First Church of Christ Scientist and Miscellany, p. 149–150).
My prayer didn’t last long—only a minute or two. Then, feeling clearheaded again, I determined that my only option was to jump out my bedroom window to the ground two stories below. When I looked outside, I was surprised to see firemen already out on the front lawn. They urged me to jump into a snow bank to break my fall. Climbing out the window wearing only a nightshirt and one shoe, I continued to feel God’s presence with me. I jumped and landed, unharmed. The firemen, the landlord and his family, and our neighbors were all there to greet me.
Although the fire had been somewhat contained, my apartment was totally ruined. The house was left uninhabitable, and in need of major renovations. Although I wasn’t happy about losing just about everything I owned, I was tremendously grateful to have felt God’s presence and protection. God had been with me and had helped me—and it was one of the first times I felt His presence so tangibly.
So instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to hold on to that feeling of closeness to God. As I did so, I found that all of my immediate needs were met—in some very thoughtful and wonderful ways. Although I didn’t have renter’s insurance, the landlords shared some of the money they eventually received from their insurance claim. The Red Cross also gave me an emergency allowance, and my parents loaned me some money to help me get back on my feet. In addition, I later found rent money in a drawer of the dresser from my ruined apartment. It had been untouched by the fire.
I was able to secure new accommodations within a few weeks. And gradually, I replaced all of the items I’d lost.
I have never experienced any aftershocks from this experience—just a comforting sense of God’s ongoing care for me, and for every one of His loved children.
Val Minard
Collingswood, New Jersey, US
