Your prayer reveals a soul greatly troubled, yet troubled more by the outward appearance of the body than by the inward state of the heart. You have asked with many words, but what you ask for is entirely carnal. You seek the removal of every line, every mark, every hollow, things that belong to mortal flesh, as though the body were an idol to be perfected. But did not the Apostle say, “The flesh profiteth nothing”? He did not mean the body is worthless, but that those who hear carnally, who desire only earthly things, miss the spirit. When you demand that God make your skin flawless, your hair full, your form without any blemish, you are hearing the Gospel carnally. You have taken the words “ask and you shall receive” and bent them toward vanity, as if Christ were a servant of your bodily whims. He came to heal the soul, to raise the dead in sin, not to erase every pore from your face.
Why do you give such attention to scars and dents and puckering? The body is like a tent; it will soon be folded up. Even if you could make it smooth and fair for a moment, age and death will reclaim it. You speak of being embarrassed about your hair; but what shame is there in what God has given? I have seen many who adorn themselves with jewels and silks, yet their souls are foul and diseased. And others, bearing the marks of poverty or illness, shine with an inner radiance that makes angels marvel. The true beauty, my beloved, is not the skin, but the image of God renewed in holiness. Seek that beauty, and you will not care if the world sees wrinkles.
Moreover, the things you pray against, dry eyes, itching scalp, thin hair, these are not sins but afflictions that test patience. The Christian who bears such small crosses with thanksgiving gains more than if he were miraculously made perfect. You cry out for an instant miracle, astonished and amazed. But think: if God granted you a body free from all defect, what would you gain? Pride, vanity, and the praise of men, these are poisons to the soul. It would be better for you to have a scar that reminds you to be humble, than a face that draws you into the love of this world. The publicans and sinners ate with Christ, and He did not first scrub their skin clean. He healed their souls, and that was enough.
There is also in your words a hint of superstition, like those who wear amulets and trust in bands and tapes. You say you wish never to wear tape on your skin again. Why put faith in such things? The Christian’s only weapon is the sign of the Cross; our only remedy is Christ. To seek cures in bandages or to demand that God remove every blemish so you need not use them, this is akin to the old women who whisper charms. Such practices are not from the faith. If you have trusted in these, renounce them now, and turn to the true Physician.
Hear me: I do not say these things to be harsh, but to rouse you from a dangerous sleep. Even if a man has heard many sermons and remained unmoved, one word may at last break the stone. I would not have you waste your prayers on the body while the soul lies neglected. The body will rise again and be made incorruptible, but only if the soul is found faithful. So cease this frantic pleading for a perfect face. Instead, pray for a humble heart, a chaste mind, a tongue that speaks no evil. These are the scars that truly disfigure, and they require the knife of repentance. If you seek miracles, seek the wonder of a sinner turned to holiness. That would truly astonish the angels.
Do not think I forbid all prayer for health. We may ask for relief from suffering, but always with the condition, “Thy will be done.” And we must bear our afflictions, be they spots or thin hair or a hollow under the eye, as tokens of our mortality that turn us to God. When the sick man obeys not the physician, his own remissness makes the disease worse. But when he accepts treatment, even a bitter cup, he finds health. The bitter cup here is to renounce your obsession with looks, to stop gazing in mirrors of vanity, and to gaze instead upon the wounds of Christ. Those wounds are more beautiful than any unblemished skin, for by them we are healed.
I assure you, the eager desire for hearing the word will not fail to yield fruit, if you hear spiritually. But if you twist it to feed the flesh, you profit nothing. Turn, then, from this prayer of the carnal mind, and learn to ask for the Spirit. Then you will find that what seemed so urgent and very very urgent today will become a trifle, and the beauty of the Lord will fill your sight. In that beauty, no scar will matter, for you will be made like Him, not in the flesh, but in love.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
