ABOUT EIGHT YEARS AGO, I began experiencing irritation in both of my eyes. Each morning when I awoke, there would be a discharge on my eyelids. Being a longtime student of Christian Science, I started to pray about the situation.
A week or so later, I noticed a small bump on one of my eyes. It was on the eye itself, just below the iris. This alarmed me, and caused me to go even deeper in my prayer and study of Christian Science. I gratefully pondered the thought that Jesus taught his disciples that they had authority over evil, as well as sickness. The Bible records: "He called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick" (Luck 9:1, 2). This inspired me to see more clearly that all of Jesus' followers are empowered through a spiritual understanding of God to heal sickness and disease, and this truth helped me pray more confidently.
Following Science and Health's counsel to "look away from the body into Truth and Love..."(p.261) also proved very fruitful for me. With the loving help of my wife, I resolved not to look in the mirror to check the state of my well-being, but to go to God—to Truth and Love—for an understanding of my spiritual identity, freedom, and wholeness. In my prayers, I tried to be more consistent about seeing myself and others not as material mortals, but as children of God, always under His law. I stayed focused on these truths, and on the fact that what God created is perfect, including me.
