As a runner, for years I experienced pains in my back on the mornings after a run. At the time I sort of accepted it as “understandable,” and because it wasn’t that bad, I didn’t give it much thought.

Then one day I woke up with my back completely out of whack. For a week I could barely walk or sit and had trouble lifting anything. I had to find some relief and, in my experience, that always starts with prayer.

To help me pray, I opened Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which methodically explains everyone’s real nature as created by God in the only way God, infinite good, could create us—spiritual, flawless, and good. It also explains how to heal discordant situations by understanding this.