I've had quick healings in Christian Science. Symptoms of disease that some might expect to linger for weeks or months — or worse, to multiply — have vanished quickly in the face of deep Christian prayer. Rooted in an understanding of God and of man as God's perfect expression, prayer has this effect: an illness is dissolved, a burden lifted, a bitter relationship sweetened. Time and again the good results have appeared without delay just as they did in Christ Jesus' day.
But there have been other times when progress has stalled. An illness or some other personal problem has not readily yielded to prayer — not right away, not for a long time. Day after day, I've prayed over some particular difficulty with little apparent effect on it. I've learned, though, that if I persist in prayer and rightly adhere to the spiritual facts of God and man, healing always does come.
Not long ago a friend reminded me of an experience Daniel had that is described in the Bible. It tells us, "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks." Daniel goes on to relate how during that time he chose to fast, going without bread, wine, or meat or anointing.
