When I was a teenager, I took karate lessons, not to become an expert fighter but for the athleticism, discipline, fellowship, and self-control involved. I've never forgotten something my sensei (teacher) told us about the mental attitude one should have during karate competitions. He said, "A combat must be won first in the mind before it can be won physically." In the years since then, I've realized that he was describing a winning approach to much more than karate competitions. What he said is true about spiritual healing as well.
When I'm confronted with a frightening situation—whether it's pain, disease, or some other kind of problem—I've found prayer to be the most effective way to find a solution. For me, the essence of prayer is tuning in to the nature of God and His creation. One example of how prayer heals happened some time ago when I was playing squash with friends from my office.
During one of the games, I was hit in the eye by the ball. As anybody who has played squash knows, the ball travels very fast after being hit, so the impact was quite hard, and my eye hurt a lot. Immediately, I started praying. It occurred to me that what had happened couldn't be a part of God's creation because, as the Bible says in the first chapter of Genesis, all that He made is not only good but very good.
I was reasoning
rationally instead of
spiritually.
To be quite honest, though, this reasoning wasn't enough, because I was doing it rationally instead of spiritually—with my head instead of my heart. I needed to feel God's presence in order to stop being afraid. It felt as though I was engaged in mental combat.
During that mental struggle, as I tried to see the situation in spiritual terms, I realized that I had been not only playing squash but also expressing joy. Suddenly, I remembered part of a statement in Science and Health that said joy couldn't turn into sorrow, and good couldn't cause evil. See Science and Health, p. 304 .
As the truth of this idea sank in, I immediately knew that fear couldn't overwhelm me, no matter how serious the situation appeared to be. I felt such spiritual strengh that the symptoms no longer scared me. I had won the mental combat.
All of this took only a couple of minutes. My colleagues felt strongly that I should go to the hospital. But I assured them I was fine. I couldn't see clearly from that eye, but I knew the blurriness had to be an illusion, since it contradicted the spiritual facts. My joy in playing couldn't be turned into sorrow. Good couldn't produce evil. Sticking with the truth that I was God's very good and spiritual creation, I decided there was no reason not to finish the game, which I did.
My eye started getting better right away. My colleagues were amazed that it didn't swell. And within a week it was completely healed. A couple of months later, I had to have a medical examination (required by the company where I work). The doctor said my vision was 100 percent. I was so grateful to God.
This experience confirmed for me that a physical problem is first and foremost a matter of mental combat, one that God enables us to win.
