“I will never again scratch my skin even if it may feel itchy.”
That’s what I told myself hundreds of times in my mind. I suffer from eczema. My body feels so itchy, which distresses me; so I promised myself a number of times that I would never scratch the itchy parts of my body and that I would never eat any food that could harm me. However, I always failed to keep my promise, and kept on making the same mistake again and again.
Actually, the scratch on my skin was so little that I could easily heal it if I had just made a little effort. However, I had no regard for the scratch, and it grew to uncontrollably a large size; it eventually spread to my arms, legs, and even the back of my head. As time went by, it worsened and I found out it would take a much longer time to heal the scratch. This made me think, ‘My soul, too, may be in the similar state.’
Recently, we could not spend much time in Zion due to COVID-19 as before; we could not even keep worship services in Zion. Furthermore, I went before God less than before with an excuse that I was tired from adapting myself to a new workplace. When I reduced working for God’s blessing, my spiritual health worsened day by day like my eczema.
As it is written, “He must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24), each of us goes through difficulties in our daily lives. Sometimes, we come across unavoidable circumstances. Whatever problems we may come across, we must not procrastinate dealing with them even when they are small. If we leave problems unsettled for a long time, they become even more difficult to deal with.
Now I can understand why God said, “Pray continually, rely on God, walk with God, and practice God’s word in obedience.” God, our Spiritual Doctor, knows that we need to do that so that we can quickly deal with our spiritual problems.
I truly give thanks to Heavenly Father and Mother for allowing me to be aware of my spiritual problems through my eczema. I want to fully follow God’s spiritual prescriptions, so that I will not hurt my soul but only give joy to God and quickly return to the beautiful Kingdom of Heaven.