You can pray and be healed

My friend Jessie told me a wonderful thing that happened to her not long ago.

Right before the end of school one day, she called her mom to come and take her home. She was supposed to have track practice that afternoon, but she couldn't run. She hadn't been feeling well for several days. Her nose was stuffed and she couldn't breathe easily.

Well, when Jessie got home, she got out the Bible and started to read. She said: "I believe in the power of God to heal me. I've had other healings."

Jessie wasn't just reading. She was also thinking and praying. At some point something clicked in her thought. By early evening, Jessie felt better and even went to the grocery store with her dad. She slept easily that night and ran in track the next day without any breathing trouble. She was grateful.

You might be asking, "Could I pray to God and be healed?"

I think you can. Pictures - even pictures in our mind - can help us understand things. The Bible tells about a picture Jesus gave us to show how to pray. He said we should go into a closet and shut the door and then pray (see Matt. 6:6) He probably didn't mean to go into an actual closet but to shut the door on all the noise of hurt or pain or anger bouncing around in your thought. He meant to get really quiet so you can hear God telling you about His/Her love for you, and about how God is always taking care of you.

There's more about going into this closet of prayer in a book called "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." The author, Mary Baker Eddy, wrote there that prayer is having an "audience with Spirit" (pg. 15). Do you know what it means to have an audience? It's having an appointment with a king or queen or someone very important. So you can picture prayer as a time to be with Spirit - with God - in your thoughts. You can think about God hearing you, knowing what you need. But mostly it's a time for you to hear God - to be quiet and listen for what you need to know to be healed and comforted.

This is really what Jessie did. After she got home that day, she got quiet and had an audience with God.

She said her prayer went something like this: God didn't make me to be sick. He made me to be well. So I don't need to be bothered by this kind of thing. I can stop being fooled by this and get on with my life. Jessie says she felt God intended for her to get these ideas and to be healed.

Jessie already knew God loved her. That God is always good and is the only power. God wants us all to know Him/Her.

When Jessie read and prayed, she was listening for thoughts from God. She was thinking about how God made everything good, like Himself. Jessie knew that God had made her (and everyone) to be perfect and spiritual, like Herself. The Bible says this in Genesis (1:26, 27) and also in Matthew (5:48). Thinking that you're spiritual and perfect may sometimes seem impossible, but it is always true. You can have fun reading and thinking about what God made you to be.

Jessie knew she didn't have to have a stuffed nose and trouble breathing, because that just wasn't good or like God. And she knew she didn't need to be afraid, because God was more powerful than any sickness and was always protecting her. (There are lots of places in the Bible that tell you not to be afraid. Psalm 91 is something you can read.)

The "click" in her thought Jessie told about came when she became absolutely sure that she was perfect, just like God is perfect. Her thought about herself shifted. And she no longer believed what her nose was telling her about who she was.

Jessie did one last important thing. She thanked God for the healing.

You can do what Jessie did. You can have an audience with God and be healed, too.

Pray one for another,

that ye may be healed.

The effectual fervent

prayer of a righteous

man availeth much.

James 5:16

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