Freed from acne through prayer

Ever since childhood, I was very conscious of the way I looked, moved, and wore clothes. As a young adult, I was especially concerned about my face. I never felt that I was beautiful or particularly attractive.

Then, adding further to my distress, acne appeared on my face. It grew worse with time. I became even more self-conscious and felt so ugly. It had been my habit to compare myself with others either in looks or in qualities, and usually I thought I came up short. Now it was difficult to avoid such discouraging thoughts even for a minute.

Some of my friends started asking me about my face, and why I didn’t do something. At that time I was relying on medicine for healthcare. I went to a skin specialist, who gave me many treatments, but none had any lasting beneficial effect. I struggled constantly with frustration about my appearance, and the persistent thought that God was partial in making some people beautiful and some ugly.

After a friend introduced me to Christian Science, however, my entire outlook began to change. I came to know many wonderful facts about my spiritual identity and my relation to God. I learned that I was His beloved daughter, that His nature is entirely good, and that He never afflicts anyone. I also learned that I was made in God’s image, so that meant I was good, too, and naturally expressed beauty as His reflection. I had several physical healings through prayer, and this convinced me that I could also pray about the acne problem.

I called a Christian Science practitioner for prayerful support. She agreed to pray with me, and gave me an article that had been published in the Sentinel titled “The connection between purity and health” (November 29, 1999). This article helped to further clarify for me the importance of recognizing the pure and perfect origin of man and woman as God’s offspring, and the connection between what we’re thinking about our well-being and health.

Impure thoughts that involve judging others, comparisons, jealousy, envy, and so on, can seem to play themselves out in our experience as unpleasant conditions, both physical and circumstantial. I started a mental check of my own consciousness and found a large number of these negative mental tendencies. But with continual prayer, listening to God, and holding to the insights I was gaining, little by little I began to eliminate the troubling thoughts that had become such regular companions.

The practitioner then brought my attention to this passage in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, pp. 247–248).

At first, I didn’t find this idea easy to understand. But I began to search for answers to find out what was meant by that term illusion and to learn more about God as Soul. Christian Science teaches that Soul unfolds that state of mind where harmony is the only reality. So I started to realize that whatever is apart from harmony is an illusion.

I prayed more, first to differentiate between reality and illusion. Then I came to know that in so many ways I had been compromising with error or illusion. I had accepted that inharmony was as real a part of my life as good. From then on I became more watchful and prayed about every thought that bothered me. Very soon I started getting glimpses of the harmony I had been looking for.

By now I was also free from the habit of comparing myself with others and from checking my progress based on the physical signs in the mirror, at last recognizing that it was my spiritual perspective that would determine bodily results. Another passage really helped me appreciate my true self: “The king’s daughter is all glorious within ”(Ps. 45:13).

Though at first there didn’t appear to be any noticeable change in my facial condition, as I continued to make progress in learning more about the spiritual basis of my identity, my healing did come. The acne disappeared, and my face was clear and smooth.

There was still one final step in this healing. Whenever anyone complimented me on my looks, I found I was surprised rather than happy. Eventually I realized that I hadn’t fully accepted healing, and occasionally blemishes on my face recurred.

Around this time, opportunities opened up for me to become more involved in duties at church. I loved this work, which engaged my whole focus, and without my realizing it, my attention was diverted from my appearance. Suddenly one day, I thought: Am I not a new person? Am I not fully conscious of all the spiritual facts I’ve been learning? Do I not fully accept them as true about me and all?

It was then that I was able to know that I had been healed. My face cleared, and there has been no return of the condition since then. That was more than a year ago.

I am so grateful to God for all the understanding and spiritual growth this healing involved. I am thankful for the selfless prayers of the practitioner and for her encouragement as a friend in enabling me to realize that my God-given qualities are my real beauty. I am thankful to Mary Baker Eddy for writing Science and Health and for establishing Christian Science, which not only heals the physical condition but transforms us mentally.

Jyoti Bajaj | Chandigarh, India