“The best thing I could do was pray”

As the weekend continued, however, I became increasingly aware of a painful blister forming on my heel. I tried my best to keep enjoying myself, but the pain was quickly getting worse. Finally, on the last full day of the trip, I knew I had to deal with the problem, so I opted out of the dance party after the graduation ceremony and went back to the dorms instead. When I hopped in the shower, I noticed that the blister had grown and that the area around it was also swollen.

I tried my best to keep enjoying myself, but the pain was quickly getting worse. 

From being in this program, I’d had a lot of practice praying about the problems that came up in my life, and I’d learned I could always expect healing. So I knew the best thing I could do was pray about this issue with my foot. This time, I started my prayers with the fact that I am spiritual, made in the image and likeness of Spirit, God, so I couldn’t be harmed by anything. 

I also asked for help from the Christian Science practitioner who was with us for the weekend, and she said she’d be happy to pray for me. We discussed keeping our thoughts completely pure by listening only to God, because only God tells us what’s true. This conversation and a similar one with one of my friends helped to lift my spirits. 

Later that night, I prayed specifically with a passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy that explains more about each individual’s true, spiritual identity, which is encompassed by the term man. The passage reads, “Man. The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind” (p. 591).

This definition helped me realize that my spiritual identity doesn’t include pain, annoyance, or fear, so I had nothing to worry about. With this in mind, I went to bed with complete faith that I was and would continue to be fine.

My spiritual identity doesn’t include pain, annoyance, or fear.

Sure enough, the next morning my foot was almost entirely healed. The swelling had gone down, and I felt almost no pain. And just a few hours after that, I was blissfully running around the campus where we were staying with one of my friends. I was so happy to be able to enjoy the rest of my day and to do so pain-free.

I am so grateful for the better understanding of spiritual identity I gained during this trip and how it led to a quick healing.