The Army Ranger, my nephew, shared details of the extremely tough assessment training he had just undergone. Each timed activity tested his ability to function under severe physical and psychological conditions.

He was one of the new graduates of the Army Airborne Ranger School. Each member of the 75th Ranger Regiment had to complete a rigorous eight week Ranger Assessment and Selection Program in order to join the ranks of the elite U.S. Army Special Operations Command unit. Few are physically or mentally qualified to graduate a Ranger.

When I inquired how he was able to stay focused during everything he’d been through, our new Ranger replied, “I held to one simple thing.”

I asked, “What was that?”

He said, “I don’t quit.”

We all have different strengths and abilities. And, perhaps, you won’t be applying my nephew’s Never-Give-In attitude on military battlefields or under extreme assessments, but you can in other situations.

After watching my nephew don his new Ranger beret, I thought to myself, “Do you use the I don’t quit mentality?”

Interesting question, since I utilize a spiritual method (Christian Science) to help others with physical troubles. And I’m learning that I can’t quit until I’m inspired by a fresh spiritual idea or truth that brings needed moral or physical changes.

Society has long been aware that ideas transform thought. But, today, what is also being recognized is that your physical state mirrors your mental state. This is how an adjusted thought can cause an improved physical condition.

I believe the new frontier of healthcare will soon be the increased exploration and utilization of spiritual care in meeting mankind’s needs. Why? Because prayer can change thought like nothing else can, when it has divine power behind it.

If my nephew had quit, he wouldn’t have achieved his goal. Thanks to his accomplishment, he now believes he can make the world a safer place.

I also feel that if you stop striving for a greater spiritual sense of life, society will be deprived of how you can help. If you steadfastly prepare yourself to receive inspired spiritual ideas, you will enable others to find mental and physical health.

It is prayer, no matter the form (listening, affirming, spiritual reasoning, being thankful, etc.), that prepares you to be receptive for healing ideas.

Mary Baker Eddy, author and spiritual healer, conquered fear, rejection, and illness with prayer. Eddy also taught others how to heal. She wrote, “Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love [God].”

Eddy found Love to be the supplier of the ideas that transform thought and body. Jesus was a master at utilizing spiritual ideas to cure ills.

Since prayer is how Love can speak to you, the one thing you should never do is stop praying. Love sent curative ideas inspire you to change your mind, to exchange fear and loneliness for spiritual peace and confidence.

Your physical state mirrors your mental state, so once you accept harmony to be present, a deep conviction of wellness will be felt and illness will give place to health.

Spiritual ideas appear in thought until healing is complete. They can appear in the form of Bible verses and other inspirational statements.

The following ideas have come to me while praying:

Love has made you spiritual, productive, and satisfied.

Love never holds back. Every moment is a holy moment.

You can’t lose. You live to express Love in all that you are and all that you do.

You have never lived without Love. It is impossible to hide the infinite.

I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. (Bible – II Kings 20:5)

Winston S. Churchill once exhorted, “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Perhaps, the enemy to your success is the aggressive suggestion that you are, in one-way or another, a failure or inadequate. Prayer gives you the wisdom to face circumstances, conditions, or events without becoming overwhelmed or discouraged. It awakens you to recognize your powerful abilities.

You may never train for battlefield action and global deployments, yet, if what you strive for has worth, there will be a way to achieve it.

If prayer is your calling, then pray. Never deviate from I don’t quit.

If you quit, you lose. And, unfortunately, so does the world.