The Power of Prayer

  I’m not super duper religious—never have been. Being raised in a Christian home however, I believe in God Almighty. I believe that God is our creator, He is our provider, our protector and our guide through life—if we allow Him to be. And I believe in the power of prayer. 

 To be perfectly honest, I pray perhaps once every other day. But it is said that the Father knows our needs before we come to him so I don’t see how that formality would make my prayers less heard. In continuing with honesty—with exception to asking protection for my children—I try my best to not ask favor of God, unless I am feeling completely desperate and hopeless. This I do because personally, I don’t know if God likes to be bombarded with mundane things. That is, request such as; ‘Lord please let me win the lottery.’ Or ‘Lord please let me make enough tip tonight to buy those new shoes.’ Or (the one request I absolutely refuse to ask) ‘Lord please send me a “good man.”’ In the greater scheme of things, those things are fairly insignificant enough for me to accomplish on my own without intervention from a higher power. 

 In my view, God is a deity of substance. Whereby, where that which we ask of Him does not reflect some standard of virtue, He becomes less inclined to oblige. That being said……There was a time in my life that I had seriously doubted weather or not God even existed. I remember that during this particular time in my life, I was seeing a considerable amount of hardship. In addition, I was well acquainted with an individual who openly practiced atheism. Now, I’ve never been much of a ‘band-Wagoner.’ I much prefer to make decisions based on proven information as opposed to the views and opinions of others. As far as religion goes, I find personally that the various theologies surrounding this rather delicate subject are considerably complicated when explored in depth. When studied unguided, it is quite easy to become more lost and/or confused than when first started. Despite being raised in a Christian home, I found myself lying sleeplessly one night wondering; “Does God exist?” That night, several years ago, I recalled a bible verse that says that ‘if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain.’ And so I decided—with faith—to move a mountain. It was a very simple prayer I prayed that night: “Dear God, if you are real, give me a sign. Amen.” Alone in my small one bedroom apartment, in the deadly silence of the wee hours of the morning, I felt a movement on my bed next to me. You know the way the mattress shifts when someone sits on the edge of the bed?…that was it. And I ‘felt’—not so much heard—a voice say, “I am here.” I fell immediately to sleep. 

 The next morning I woke up thinking, ‘why didn’t I speak to Him?’ I have no answer to that question……On other occasions, where I sincerely needed it God has shown his grace and mercy to me. I’m not big on giving advice. But wherever others seek advice from me, and I listen and see that they are truly troubled; the one piece of advice I do give is standard…pray on it.