Where to begin

The other night I was sitting in the lobby at church waiting for the Wednesday Testimony Meeting to begin.  My feet hurt and the pain rapidly increased.  I had walked into church with no discomfort but the longer I sat there, the worse they felt until I reached the point where I doubted my ability to get up and walk into the auditorium.

I remembered a phrase that I'd heard years ago when I was in college.  It often serves as a starting point for my prayers.  It goes, "Begin with God and see things as they are."

This idea effectively turns my thought away from the problem and refocuses it on God, the Only Cause and Creator.  From this starting point of perfection I can see myself as perfect because I am made in His image and likeness as stated in Genesis.

I view problems, in this case a physical one, as a temptation to believe that there is a cause outside of omnipotent God and an effect beyond infinite good.  In his prayer in the Sermon on the Mount which we call the Lord's Prayer, Christ Jesus includes the line, "And lead me not into temptation."  I know I am divinely supported in my efforts to resist temptation of any kind.

The truth about God is true about man as God made him and is true for me as a child of God.  The pain disappeared quickly and I went into the service completely free.