Why I pray

You don’t need to be an expert on prayer to teach someone else how to pray.  You only need to have prayed yourself, it’s that simple.  It is, afterall, speaking to another person, albeit a grand and glorious one. I find it amazing and amazingly comforting that the most grand and glorious being, the most powerful and knowing being is also our Father and that He cares about the details in our lives.  He wants us to connect with Him.  He wants us to come to Him in prayer and tell Him all about it- our troubles, our hopes, worries, fears, the things we need, the things we want, and the things we’re grateful to Him for.

I pray on my knees, in the morning and at night, but sometimes in the middle of the day when I'm in need of direction or comfort or strength.  Most of the time I pray while not on my knees.  I talk to God all throughout the day.  I send my thoughts out to Him when I'm cutting vegetables, when I'm walking on the beach, when I'm at church and when I'm driving.  I pray just before I'm about to do something really important, like teach my kids, or write for this blog.  I take my daily actions seriously and I've asked God to be a part of them and guide me in them, and He has.

Going through life without prayer is like trying to navigate without a map, not because I'm not smart or good or capable, but because I lack the bigger picture, that knowing of the past, present and future that God possesses.  There are too many variables, too many unknowns involved and without Heavenly Father's insight, I'd still be guessing, always guessing.

We each have our point of exhaustion.  No matter how strong we may feel, we can find ourselves powerless in the face of a storm, and life is full of storms.  They rage around us and turn our lives upside down.  Sometimes they wrench from us things and people we care the most about, and leave us devastated. Sometimes His answers come in the form of the storm subsiding and the sun coming out.  Often they come in the midst of the storm, in the form of reassurance anchoring us down, safety sheltering us through it, peace keeping the fear at bay, and strength, to go on in the face of great pain and loss; so that we come through it stronger and better for having weathered it.  I would rather go through life, with all its storms, with God beside me than by myself, any day.

When I pray I start by addressing Him.  I thank Him for His gifts in my life.  I ask for what I need.  Then I end the prayer.  Because I'm a christian, I close my prayers "in the name of Jesus Christ," but I believe that God's ability to hear His children's prayers transcends all borders of religion or race.  He loves us all, and is waiting with loving and listening ears, and outstretched arms to give us help.  We have only to reach out in prayer and take it.