Are you waiting for someone else to change or to take action before you think things will get better for you? Not too long ago, I found myself doing just that. I felt my career was going nowhere, and I had few good friends to spend time with. I felt trapped and at the mercy of a lot of things I didn't think I could change. It seemed so clear to me that someone else was going to have to save me from my dead-end job or befriend me and save me from hours of loneliness and boredom.

I shared my feelings of frustration with a friend of mind. She suggested I study the Bible's account of how Christ Jesus healed a man who was paralytic (see John 5:1–9). I was intrigued by her suggestion, although I didn't see how that healing had anything to do with my situation.

The Bible makes clear that a large number of people who needed to be healed were waiting by the pool of Bethesda for an angel to trouble the waters. It was believed that the first person to get into the pool after the troubling of the waters would be healed. Jesus saw a man, who had been sick for thirty-eight years, lying by the side of the pool. When he asked the man if he wanted to be healed, he replied that he had no one to help him get into the pool and someone always got there before he could make it in on his own.

It was at this point that I began to see how this story was similar to my situation. Like this man, I was waiting for someone, or something, to take me from an undesirable situation and put me into a better one.

Jesus recognized that the man had the ability to help himself and told him exactly what to do. The Master said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." And that's precisely what happened. Jesus may have been directing the man to raise up his body and walk, but I think the effect of Christ's presence was that the man's consciousness was being raised as well. In Unity of Good, Mary Baker Eddy has this to say about Jesus' approach to healing: "He demanded a change of consciousness and evidence, and effected this change through the higher laws of God" (p. 11).

When I understood the significance of the man's healing, my consciousness was lifted and I thought differently about my own situation. I stopped seeing myself as trapped in a job or lacking companionship, subject to discontentment, disappointment, or loneliness. I started seeing myself as I truly was, the beloved child of God with limitless resources, opportunities, and joys.

I knew that, because God is divine Mind and man is His image, or reflection, I expressed all the qualities necessary to be a valuable employee and that my boss and co-workers expressed all the qualities necessary to see my value. As the idea of infinite Love, I expressed completeness, contentment, and love. And I knew that because these things are rightfully and freely ours, nothing could keep me from experiencing them.

I began to see the evidence of healing. Work improved. I had a meaningful discussion with my boss, after which she began to assign me to more interesting projects, and I received a raise in salary. Also, during this time, three other employers came to me with job offers. My friendships improved as well. Many old friendship have been renewed, and several close friends who moved away years ago have recently moved back.

Truly, I feel blessed and enriched by these events. My greatest blessing, however, is learning that anytime, anywhere, we can raise our consciousness and lift ourselves out of trouble and dissatisfaction. We can rise to the eternal, unchanging, and ever-present truth of man's harmony and perfection as the beloved child of God. And we can be healed immediately.