By Cristie Gardner

In his book The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles describes the Law of Perpetual Transmutation. In simple terms, it means energy from the formless realm is always flowing into the material world, taking shape. This energy is limitless and inexhaustible. Physical manifestations shift—old forms dissolve to make way for new ones, drawn from the unseen energy of the universe.

For me, the clearest and most powerful example of this law is the transformative power of praying in faith. I want to share a few experiences with you that, honestly, I wouldn’t believe myself had I not lived them.

My husband Stan and I spent four years in the Philippines, where he was enrolled in medical school. His education there was outstanding—his professors were U.S.-trained, and all instruction was in English. He encountered rare diseases like tetanus, typhoid, and diphtheria firsthand—conditions U.S. students only learn about from textbooks. His training was hands-on and immersive. On his OB rotation, he delivered 17 babies in one night. He wasn’t just studying medicine; he was practicing it.

Eventually, Stan was offered an externship at Loma Linda University in California. It meant leaving the Philippines a few months early, but the training would count toward his M.D. We made plans for our family—four young boys in tow—to relocate for the three-month externship. I asked my dad to find a place for us to live near the university, and despite the challenges of long-distance communication, he assured me it was taken care of.

But it wasn’t.

We arrived in Loma Linda on a Friday evening—just before Sabbath began. Loma Linda is a predominantly Seventh-Day Adventist community, where the Sabbath starts at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. By Friday night, everything shuts down.

We expected my dad to meet us and take us to our new place. But he wasn’t there. When I called, it became painfully clear—there was no house. No apartment. No plan.

Panic set in. With four kids (including a newborn), a borrowed station wagon, a trailer full of everything we owned, and only $35 to our name, we drove to a realty office to look for anything we could rent. We asked the staff if they knew of any rentals—no luck. I found one ad in the university newspaper: a furnished house just five minutes from the hospital. I called the owner.

He was furious. He shouted, “What were you thinking? Renting to a family of four boys—for three months?!” I was stunned, embarrassed, and holding back tears.

We left the office and returned to our car, overwhelmed. And we prayed—fervently, faithfully. There was nothing else to do.

Moments later, a woman from the realty office walked out to us. “The man you just spoke to called back,” she said. “He wants to talk to you.”

I picked up the phone, bracing myself. But his voice had completely changed. “I don’t know why I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “But I’m going to rent you the house. You’ll need a fridge, and you’ll have to keep it clean. But it has a fenced yard, and your boys will have space to play.”

I was speechless. Just minutes earlier, he had been yelling at me. Now he was offering a solution with genuine kindness.

Megan Whalen Turner once said, “Sometimes, if you want to change a man's mind, you have to change the mind of the man next to him first.”

Next, we had to find a refrigerator. Fast. The realty office stayed open a few extra minutes for us. I found a newspaper ad: “Moving—refrigerator for sale, $30.” I called. He hadn’t sold it, and he was heading out that night. He agreed to deliver it—just before sundown.

That left us with $5 for groceries. We bought what we could, made up the boys’ beds, and knelt in gratitude. Our needs had been met—every last one.

I believe this is why God tells us to pray without ceasing. What we focus our minds and hearts on, what we pray for, is heard. I believe God knew we would arrive in Loma Linda without a place to stay. He could have prevented the stress and panic altogether—but I also believe there was something sacred in going through it. That experience planted deep roots of faith in me.

Nothing disappears—but everything transforms. In an instant, sorrow can turn to joy. The things we need—or deeply desire—can suddenly appear. The process may seem uncertain, but the energy, the prayer, the intention—it’s always at work behind the scenes.

When our son started a nonprofit in Africa, they needed tents. New ones would be taxed or confiscated at customs. So we scoured yard sales for used ones. Within two weeks, we had all the tents they needed—in great condition, and at a fraction of the cost.

Our daughter once borrowed my (then-trendy) vest, and the custom wooden button popped off and vanished. She searched everywhere. Finally, she prayed. As she opened her eyes, she felt to look under her bed—again. There it was, in plain sight.

When my husband Stan's grandmother was a little girl, she had been entrusted with the only key to the house, tied to a looped string. She went outside to play while her parents ran some errands, and got caught up in the fun of jumping into the foot-deep piles of fallen leaves in front of their house. When her parents walked up to the house, little Almeda realized she had lost the key. And with leaves deep on their whole yard, it wasn't going to be easy to locate.

That night, her family prayed to find the key. In the morning, Almeda's father woke her up. "Come with me, Almeda," he said. "I have dreamed where the key is." Holding her hand, he walked into the yard, stopped, reached down through the foot-deep pile, and came up with the string holding the key.

Years later, while living in Montana, we dreamed of building a home on a large lot with natural springs, wildlife, and privacy. I even wanted a vintage clothesline to dry laundry in the sun. We found 23½ acres for a shockingly low price, complete with deer, pheasant, and fireflies. We designed every detail of that dream home—down to the clothesline we found at a yard sale for a dollar.

While we lived in a basement during construction, our son David lost a paycheck he desperately needed. We searched everywhere. After a family prayer, his younger brother Matt stood up, walked into the room, and came back holding the envelope. That’s just who Matt is—sensitive to the energy around him, and attuned to it in remarkable ways.

What we focus on expands. If we focus on light, truth, love, and gratitude—we attract more of the same. If we focus on helplessness, anger, or fear—we find more of that, too.

So what caused that landlord to soften? What led us to a refrigerator priced exactly at what we had left? Why were used tents suddenly everywhere? How did a button reappear in the same spot it had been missing? How did Almeda’s father dream so precisely? How did Matt know exactly where to look?

The answer is the same: truth was already present. Energy was already moving. And what we needed was brought into form.

If we had focused on despair, if we had let fear rule the moment, the outcomes might have been very different.

What we think about, we bring about.

What we don’t know is how quickly what we envision and work toward will actually come to pass. That’s the domain of another principle—the Law of Gestation. But what we do know is this: a law is a law. Just like God, these laws are constant. They are dependable, unchanging, and absolute. We can trust them.

We are in a continual state of change—either we are growing or we’re shrinking. We are becoming more, or we’re deteriorating. Our minds have the extraordinary power to shape this divine, flowing energy. Through our prayers and our faith, we can influence it for our good.

Our dominant thoughts—our higher vibrations—impact the energy we emit and the environment we shape.

David O. McKay said, "There is a responsibility that no man can evade. That is the responsibility of personal influence...Every man [and woman] has an atmosphere or a radiation that is affecting every person in the world. You cannot escape it...It is simply the constant radiation of what a man really is. Every man, by his mere living, is radiating positive or negative qualities. Life is a state of radiation. To exist is to be the radiation of our feelings, natures, doubts, schemes, or to be the recipient of those things from somebody else. You cannot escape it. Man cannot escape for one moment the radiation of his character. You will select the qualities that you will permit to be radiated."

That reminds me of a poem—author unknown—that beautifully illustrates this truth:

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime
You tell what you are by the things you wear,
And even by the way you wear your hair;
By the kind of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on your phonograph.
You tell what you are by the way you walk,
By the thing of which you delight to talk;
By the manner in which you bury deceit.
By so simple a thing as how you eat.
By the books you choose from the well-fitted shelf.
In these ways and more you tell on yourself.

If I had lived in the 17th century and watched someone walk into a room and flip a switch to turn on a light, I would have called it a miracle. But the truth is, I just wouldn’t have understood the Laws of Electricity. The miracle would have only seemed like magic because the laws behind it were unknown to me.

There are so many layers to the Law of Perpetual Transmutation. One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is this: Are we creating, or are we destroying? This isn’t just about physical space. It’s about relationships. It’s about our habits, our health, and our inner world. Are we aging and breaking down, or are we choosing revitalization and growth? Our actions shape that trajectory. Are we honoring the natural rhythms of life—the beautiful cycles of action and rest? Do we see how the universal laws don’t compete, but work together as a unified whole?

All of God's laws are part of one great wholeness.

Miracles are accomplished through applying the laws that create them.

If we understand these laws, and we live by them, miracles will happen.

Robert F. Kennedy said, “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

At the heart of all of these laws is a divine truth: we have the power to choose. Our agency is sacred. A beloved hymn puts it this way:

"Know this, that every soul is free
to choose his life and what he'll be.
For this eternal truth is given... that God will force no man to heaven.
He'll call, persuade, direct aright, and bless with wisdom, love and light.
In nameless ways be good and kind, but NEVER force the human mind."

The website Laws of the Universe offers this clear insight into the Law of Perpetual Transmutation: The energy of the Universe is always moving and transmuting into and out of form. This law of nature further tells us that energy is always in a state of motion. It will take one form, move to another form, but it's always in motion and never standing still. This law relates to the universe and our consciousness through the realization that everything seen and unseen is constantly changing. We can harness this energy and transform it into whatever form we desire, we should then realize that the energy that is with us at the moment can be focused toward good and then the things around us and within us will change for the better. The energy is flowing into our consciousness constantly; we transform this energy into whatever we choose through our focus of attention at the moment. The formless energy is amenable to being shaped by our minds.

I’m reminded of a conversation in Ratatouille:
"You can't change nature, son!"
"Change IS nature, dad, the part we can influence. And it all starts when we decide.”

As we currently face the global challenges brought on by the COVID-19 virus, I want to leave you with these reassuring lyrics, written by Naomi Randall:

"I will not doubt, I will not fear;
God’s love and strength are always near.
His promised gift helps me to find
An inner strength and peace of mind.
I give the Father willingly
My trust, my prayers, humility.
His Spirit guides; his love assures
That fear departs when faith endures."

Reflections, by Cristie Gardner

One drop falls in a lakeside pool,
A single drop, and then,
Around that drop a circle forms,
Then round that, one again.

And further out, continuing,
The ripples echo on—
Beyond what we can see, long past
The time the drop is gone.

One person serves another,
In one small, simple deed.
That person’s influence expands
To meet another’s need.

Then further out, continuing,
Another’s vision grows
Extending influence beyond
The people that she knows.

And on and on the circle grows,
Enlarging ever on
Beyond what we can see—long past the time
Our effort’s gone.

You cannot see the lives you change
With small and simple things
When love and service ripple on
And give our kindness wings.

As you move through your day, be aware of your thoughts. Notice how you are influencing your experiences, the people you interact with, and even nature itself. Your mind is a powerhouse. It is essential to understand these laws—and to apply them—not only in discovering your purpose, but in creating Joy, on purpose.

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