TeenConnect: Your Healings
September 8, 2017
Prayer on the way to the peak
The plan was to hike the tallest mountain in Maine. But when my friends and I got out of our cars on that summer afternoon, we could hear strong winds blowing through the trees and saw clouds covering the top of the mountain. Because of the weather, we decided to hike a smaller peak in the park, but to increase the challenge, we chose to run up the mountain.
Since God was governing me, nothing else such as pain could be present in me.
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During the run uphill, I was climbing a rock on a steep incline and didn’t see the tree in front of me. I hit my head really hard on a tree limb that was about 18 inches in diameter. I had to lie down on the rock to collect myself. I was in a lot of pain, and I was having trouble seeing.
I began praying right away, and the first idea that occurred to me was a prayer by Mary Baker Eddy called the “Daily Prayer” (see Manual of The Mother Church, p. 41). It’s a prayer I have known by heart since I was little and helps me feel God’s power and presence. Thinking through a part of the prayer that states, “… let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me … ,” I reasoned that since God, divine Truth, Life, and Love, was governing me, then nothing else, such as pain or discord, could be present in me. I live in God’s kingdom, but pain has no place there. Therefore, pain could not belong to me. God as divine Truth keeps me free from pain.
Next I thought about Life. Since I am spiritual, my life has an infinite, divine source that can never diminish or be interrupted. Divine Life enables me to express vigor and vitality. I also realized that just as I live in God’s kingdom as His spiritual idea, a tree also lives in God’s kingdom and is a divine idea. A tree as idea couldn’t hurt me because it represents strength, support, and beauty, which are qualities of divine Love, and everything in Love’s kingdom is good.
By the time we reached the peak, the pain was completely gone.
Finally, I could feel that Love was caring for me, and always had been. I had never been out of Love’s care, even when I was climbing up that rock. I also felt God’s love as expressed by my friends while they helped me up after I hit my head.
Reflecting on the power and presence of Truth, Life, and Love helped me realize that I was completely safe in God’s care and that the pain I was feeling was in fact powerless. Very quickly, the pain lessened considerably and I was able to continue up the mountain. By the time we reached the peak, the pain was completely gone.
Standing on the mountaintop, we all were rewarded with an astonishing view of northern Maine. As I looked out at the mountains to one side and the ocean in the distance on the other side, I saw that the harmony I felt coincided with the harmony all around me. I was completely fine for the rest of the trip and learned that in times of need, God will always supply us with inspiration that helps and heals us.