I didn’t buy that app
Originally appeared online in the teen series: Your Healings - May 17, 2018
During a soccer game, I got cleated very hard in the thigh. My leg hurt, and I was having a hard time walking. My mom and I were praying together about it. I pray a lot about things going on in my life. For example, I’ve prayed about tests in school or problems with friends. I’ve learned in the Christian Science Sunday School that I can pray either alone or with help, and that I can expect healing.
One day, my mom and I were talking, and she said that my hurt leg wasn’t really the truth about me. That instead of trusting the five physical senses, we can listen to God and everything He’s telling us, including that we’re spiritual and always safe. Only what God says is true, because God is Truth. I’ve heard this in Sunday School, too, but I wasn’t really understanding what she was saying. It sure seemed like my leg was hurt.
Then my mom reminded me about an app my sister and I like to use. We take pictures of ourselves, and the app distorts the photos so we look ridiculous. She pulled up one of the silly pictures on her phone and asked if the image was really me. It was, but it didn’t look anything like me.
My mom said that sometimes our view of ourselves might seem distorted, like the photo altered by the app. We might think we’re seeing ourselves differently than the way God sees us. But God sees us only as whole and perfect, and there’s no room for any other view.
I suddenly understood that I could see myself only the way God sees me, not in a bad or distorted way.
My mom said, “Sullivan, you didn’t ‘buy’ that app.” What she meant was that I didn’t “buy,” or accept, the app’s suggestion, or false view of me. She asked if I or any of my friends would spend our own money on an app that made us think we were sick, dishonest, lonely, not smart, or unkind to others. Of course not. I suddenly understood that I could see myself only the way God sees me, not in a bad or distorted way.
With that simple thought, I was instantly healed. I was up and walking around right away and back to my everyday things, including soccer. And my leg has been fine ever since.
The best part about this healing is that it’s helped me with other problems since then. In another healing I had, my mom reminded me that not only would I not want to accept a distorted image of myself, but also, an image like that couldn’t be true. Actually, a distorted image couldn’t even exist; there is nothing that has the power to change one of God’s ideas. What God makes is permanently good. That helped me a lot.
I’m so grateful for these insights and healings and what they’ve taught me about God.
