The following posts are adapted for mBL from a tmcyouth.com online discussion printed in the Christian Science Sentinel, Sept. 8, 2008. To read the complete article, visit tmcyouth.com.
Sosacoli
I was wondering if anyone could share ideas that they’ve had when praying about acne.
Kidlit
I had really bad acne when I was in college. It actually got me really down—to the point where it was almost all I could think about.
The most helpful idea was that no matter how much the five physical senses screamed that I was ugly or blemished, those were not the messages I was hearing from God, so I didn’t have to listen to them. Every time I started feeling depressed, or was tempted to look in the mirror, or just felt unattractive, I sort of made it a point to thank God for making me beautiful, for maintaining my purity, for showing me that I could never be blemished.
One of the other things I prayed about was beauty. Even before the acne, I’d always hated the way I looked. And saying that my beauty was spiritual just seemed like an excuse—as though everyone else got physical beauty but all I got was the spiritual stuff. But one day it just hit me that beauty is spiritual, period. Completely spiritual. I mean, if Spirit is the only reality, then there is no matter to be beautiful or ugly. This totally transformed the way I thought about myself, and I stopped being obsessed with looking in the mirror. My thought shifted to wanting to hear what God was telling me about my own (and everyone else’s) real beauty—the kind that doesn’t fade, can’t be blemished, and is actually more lovely than we can even imagine. When my thoughts about myself changed, the acne disappeared.
Allegra
It seems impossible to think of spiritual beauty when I’m looking at something that’s not beautiful in the mirror.
Kidlit
This might sound like an obnoxious answer, but I say, Don’t look!
Seriously. If you see something on TV that upsets you or grosses you out, what do you do? You turn away from it. When it’s not staring you in the face anymore, it stops having power over you. Why? Because you’ve removed your attention from it. And because you know that the disturbing scene is made up to begin with, you don’t give it a second thought. You can reject it and move on.
Which brings me to another big thing I realized during my own struggle with acne: It simply couldn’t be true about me. That’s why you can turn away from it and move on, in the same way you would with a disturbing scene on TV.
Why did I keep looking in the mirror? Because it was so hard to believe that what I was seeing wasn’t the real story. It just seemed so tangible, so compelling. I’d be disciplined for a few hours, even a few days, about listening only to God . . . and then boom! I’d be looking in the mirror all over again.
But one day I argued back. I said, No, I do believe that Spirit is the true story and that matter is an endless loop of lies. . . . I started rejecting suggestions of ugliness and being blemished, and reminded myself that 1) they weren’t bringing me feelings of peace or joy, so they couldn’t be from God and therefore I didn’t have to listen to them, and 2) what God was telling me about my beauty and perfection was the only thing I was interested in listening to.
The more I stood up to these thoughts (and the less I believed them), the less and less frequently they came, until they completely lost their power over me and stopped plaguing me altogether.
Cecilia
I recently dealt with a skin problem (on my foot) similar to yours. Before, whenever I looked at the problem, I would start off by thinking “I am perfect,” and then contemplate what I should do about it. Recently in the Christian Science Bible Lesson, there was a statement that opened my eyes on how to pray about this:
“To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives” (Science and Health, p. 248).
I decided then to always keep a clean thought; instead of focusing on the problem, I did not even acknowledge it. I always kept a perfect image in my thought, and never looked at the problem.
Recently, I happened to glance at the bottom of my foot. There was nothing in the place where the problem had once been. I was amazed. I had changed my method of prayer, and had been completely healed in a week of something that I’d been praying about a little more than half my life!
Seinffeld
Also remember that your outward appearance can only affect you if you let it. I remember many people in high school who had acne and were popular and had girlfriends and boyfriends. Your thought determines your experience, not your face.
MsJackson
I’ve been thinking about attractiveness generally, not specifically in relation to skin. I try to remember that spirit attracts spirit, that the people I love the most may not be considered beautiful, but I found them interesting and attractive even before I knew them. What led me to formulate friendships with these people? It was a connection on a deeper level.
ctpSRHS
I’ve been praying about this topic, too.
Like so many others have said before in this post, look away from whatever appears in the mirror (even if it’s materially attractive)! It’s not, can’t be, and never was, who we are. But I’ve found that diverting our attention away from what appears to be “the real thing” is much easier said than done. . . . That’s something I’m constantly working on. I guess I should be grateful for all the opportunities I have to declare my spirituality.
Also, in my prayer, it occurred to me to understand more about how beauty cannot be disfigured/blemished because beauty is a quality of God—not of mortals. The beauty God expresses cannot be changed, hidden, or cursed in any way, because God is a constant. So scientifically [from a spiritual viewpoint], we can’t help but constantly express beauty. . . . Our beauty and perfection come from God.
Thank you all again for your thoughts! They’ve been very supportive. |css