What's the use? I almost said. I had been praying for myself for several days, but I wasn't healed of an ugly skin eruption. I was in the military at the time and requested leave in order to devote more of my time to prayer. I immersed myself in studying citations from the Bible along with Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. Military regulations stated that after three days, an individual must report to the hospital. It had been three days, so I called my supervisor and requested another two to three days off. He graciously gave his approval.
It became clear to me that thoughts of time or any other personal plan or outline had no place in my prayer. Instead, I stuck with persistent declarations of my spiritual unity with God.
In the Scriptures, I read these verses: "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh." Prov. 4:20–22. As I was thinking about these verses, it became clear to me that God's law is the law of progress. The statement "Attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings" told me that I must listen to God's words, insist on hearing the spiritual facts about myself—that I am the spiritual likeness of God. "Let them not depart from thine eyes" told me to resist whatever denies the goodness and wholeness of God's child. I was to stay conscious of one Mind, one God. And to "keep them in the midst of thine heart" was God's command to persist in knowing that I am His child, and therefore always perfect in His sight. And never to forget it! The last sentence summed it all up for me: "For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh."
