Many people have experienced the power of prayer to heal. Some rely on prayer regularly with good results. However, there may be times when a problem addressed through prayer recurs, sometimes repeatedly. Then the temptation creeps in to doubt the power of prayer, or even the reality of God.
In praying about this aggressive appearance of recurring evil, both in individual lives and in the world, I was led to this thought-provoking statement by Mary Baker Eddy: “The cycle of good obliterates the epicycle of evil” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 270).
One definition of cycle is “a circle or orbit in the heavens” (Oxford). This word derives from the Greek kyklos, meaning “circle,” and a circle implies that which has no beginning or end, and so is continuous, uninterrupted, and complete. As God is infinite, ever-present good, the universe, His creation, is infinitely good, continuous like the circle, and eternally harmonious.
