Have you ever sat by a lake or the ocean, connecting with nature and staring off into the distance wondering, what does God have in store for me? How can I know what to do with my life? How can I heal from the deep wounds inside of me? When can a difficult trial end? How can I hang on for one more day? The solution to so many questions that don’t seem to have answers right when we need them is prayer. Prayer is our lifeline to God, the thing that will keep us going when nothing else can.
Prayer has not always come easy for me. I’ve always known that it is important to pray, and though I prayed often during my life time, the act of kneeling down and formally praying was something I struggled with. Maybe it was because I felt that if I was going before the Lord in prayer and supplication, asking Him for help and answers, that my prayer better have a deep meaning and be very important. The problem was that for a long time I didn’t feel that I was anyone special in the eyes of God. As I grew up I was fully submerged in gospel teachings and singing the songs that would instill the truth that I am a child of God. But somehow, deep down, I didn’t consistently think and feel that I was that important to Father in Heaven, so unconsciously I deduced that listening to my prayer may not be all that imperative to Him. I admit that I struggled with my own feelings of self-worth, and didn’t comprehend that even I, little Sophia could mean something to my creator. There were also times when I was lazy and didn’t want to kneel down to pray, and thinking that kneeling was the only acceptable way to pray, I often didn’t.
As I grew from childhood to young adult, the idea of praying took on more meaning. I had some wonderful experiences feeling things of the spirit, and I was drawn to good things, but my spiritual experiences were not something that had been generated through prayer. My life had been relatively easy, and the need for petitioning the Lord didn’t come about too often. When I started making big life changing decisions and then began having children, the need for more consistent supplication came.
When life started to change in a drastic way, my prayers changed. They became “begging” sessions with the Lord, to help find my way out of a situation where I felt trapped. I needed to connect with my Father in Heaven in a new way, a very personal way I hadn’t felt before. Instead of wondering if Father was listening to me, I knew He was listening and hearing me as I pleaded with Him for help.
There are many reasons to pray and an unlimited number of things we can pray about. People of all faiths consider prayer an important part of their daily routine. Whatever the reasons for praying, we are looking to make a connection – between us and God. Prayer and God may be insignificant until we come to an impasse in our lives and we need something that cannot be provided by an earthly source. That’s when our prayers become real, true communication to our Father in Heaven. Then we don’t just desire His help when it’s convenient for Him, we need His help, and we are desperate for it. This is another good thing that trials do for us, they can connect us with our creator in ways nothing else can.
There are situations in life that are unbearable, so we pray – for ourselves and for others. We see loved ones or friends having trials, and aside from listening to them, making meals, taking gifts or flowers to help them feel better, I think we often feel helpless and think there is nothing of real value that we can do for them. But there is! We can always pray for others and invite the Lord’s spirit and His light to descend upon them and surround them. We can ask for angels to buoy them up. Prayers are always helpful, even if we never see the results or know if our prayers made any difference. Prayers are always beneficial – they are never expressed in vain.
I believe that the prayers we utter for others are the strongest prayers, because we’re asking Father to help someone else. I have found myself praying frequently for my children and my family members. A mother’s prayers have power beyond our ability to understand. There are times when I’ve been praying for my children that I have felt an unseen conduit of light. It begins at the point where I am kneeling, and extends up to heaven. In my mind it looks like a strong search light that extends up beyond where I can see. I have visualized my prayers ascending up through that powerful beam of light to the higher power of Father in Heaven. I know Father has received my plea, and sends me confirmation that my prayer has been accepted and heard.
Prayer is more than the act of kneeling and praying. It happens first in our hearts, becoming a personal exchange between us and the Lord – that is something we need every day! The scriptures tell us to never stop praying, to pray every day, morning, noon and night and all times in between. We are taught to pray aloud and to offer silent prayers in our closets. There isn’t a limit on what physical position we take to pray – it can be on our knees, sitting down, standing up, or lying down. That means we can pray anytime, anywhere in whatever way we are able. We can always have a prayer in our hearts. Prayer helps us to stay close to our Father in Heaven and increases our desire to stay close to him, keeping us from temptation. As the world that we live in seems to go further and further away from Christ’s teachings, prayer helps us to cling to that which is lasting and eternal. The constantly changing moral codes and opposing forces pull on us from every side, and there is no way that we can hope to return to our Father in Heaven if we don’t continue a constant dialog of prayer between us and Him. We can’t slacken off in our communication and we can’t take a vacation from the connection between Father and us. Talking to Heavenly Father every day and expressing our gratitude to Him for our blessings and all the miracles He sends to us is key to our happiness, even giving thanks for the blessings we haven’t recognized as miracles yet. What a blessing it is to ask Him for the good desires of our heart, and to be able to ask Him to change our hearts if it is not in keeping with what He desires for us.
There can be pitfalls to the way we pray. Sometimes before we begin to pray, we have already decided in our minds how we would like our prayer to be answered. We create scenarios of what would be best for us or a loved one, asking that our prayer be answered in a certain way. We request our will. If our prayer is not answered in the way we think it should be, then we think God has not heard us and our prayer was not answered at all. We assume He didn’t listen and He doesn’t care. That is one of Satan’s lies, and we need to recognize that.
In my prayers, I have asked for specific help and specific answers, pleading my case before my Heavenly Father. I don’t think it’s wrong to pray for specific help, because as we ask in faith, it’s right to be communicating our desires to the Lord. Sometimes my prayers are answered just as I hoped they would be. Other times my answers weren’t even close to what my wishes were. For me, some of the best answers to my prayer have come in ways that I didn’t ask. Many times my prayers are answered in different ways than I thought they would be and not even close to what I had requested. Instead, they have been answered in the most amazing ways, beyond anything I would have considered. I’ve noticed a pattern in the answers the Lord sends – His answers are so much better than whatever I could have asked for, better than what I would have imagined. I praise the Lord for His goodness, for giving me the answers that He knows are best for me, answers that will bless my life fully. The Lord’s responses have brought me joy and happiness. If my own requests had always been granted, I would have fallen short of the blessings the Lord had in store for me.
There are different ideas about the best way to pray, and how to get answers to our prayers. One way is to make a plan and decide what we think is best, then go to our Father in Heaven in prayer, asking if it be right. The spirit can confirm that our decision is right by giving us a peaceful, confident feeling, or maybe a burning inside our hearts of the correctness of our choice. Or we may feel confused and wonder if we have asked amiss, or have a feeling that we are lacking direction if it is not right. This is a wonderful way to pray, by using our minds and intelligence to make a decision, then asking the Lord if it is right. Father wants us to choose. He sacrificed His Son so that we could choose. It is also very important that as we choose our plan, we remain open to hearing His voice, listening with our hearts and our minds for further heavenly guidance.
During my trial, that form of prayer was difficult to do. I found that I didn’t know what to pray for. That may sound odd, but it was true. I did pray for my children to be blessed and to be healed, for my family and myself to have some peace as we went through this trial, but the rest of my hopes and dreams for my life had been shattered. I didn’t know what to pray for any more. Because I had been forced to change much of the direction I had planned for my life, all I could think to pray for was whatever the Lord thought was best, to send me His direction. At times I couldn’t even think anymore, so I put my trust in Him and left the door wide open, asking Him to send whatever it was that He knew we needed. This form of prayer was an amazing lesson to me. As I prayed, His guidance came… I received a thought or an idea that I hadn’t come up with, and knew what I should do without any question. I liked this method of praying, it served me and my family well. I learned to love going to the Lord and asking Him to provide the next step for me, and when the next step was given, it was remarkable. These answers came from God, my own personal revelation. I became like putty in His hands, and He could mold my life in His ways as He pulled me out of the darkness and into His light.
Some think that going to God in prayer without a plan already in place isn’t a good way to pray, that we should always come up with what we feel is best, and then ask if the answer is right or wrong. They cannot understand the concept of opening your mind without any preconceived notions or decisive choices about what to do. But I love praying for Father’s will to be done in my life without making up my own mind first. It has brought me such happiness and joy to follow His guidance and His will rather than always coming up with it on my own. Praying this way brings me such peace and I know I am in His hands. I know His ways are better than my ways.
Kneeling to pray is a respectful way to communicate with God. Although kneeling in prayer is very important, it is not the only way to pray, nor the only way He will accept our prayer. I don’t believe that God will withhold anything from us that He knows will be for our best interest and growth. I find myself praying throughout the day. Sometimes they are just short prayers, for something or someone that has just come into my mind and I want to pray at the very moment I think of it. I think I pray more with my eyes open going through my day than when I’m on my knees, because I pray when I think of things that need prayerful attention, which is often. When I’m at work or riding in the car, kneeling down isn’t an option, but praying wherever I am is always possible. I can’t always stop and make a list of important things that I want to pray for during the day, and I know I may forget something later on when I have the opportunity to kneel down. So I pray everywhere and whenever the thought occurs to me.
It doesn’t matter if we feel worthy to pray or where we are when we pray. The important thing is…just pray! He’s waiting to hear from you.