Why Pray?

In the year leading up to my daughter’s diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, God began to prepare the way by showing me the importance of prayer.  To be quite honest, until that time, I rarely prayed at all.  Growing up, I had always believed that everything just kind of fell into place naturally, under God’s perfect plan.  I trusted that everything was completely under His control, and believed that prayer was just a formality.  I don’t even want to know the number of times I told someone I would be praying for them and didn’t.  It’s honestly embarrassing!  It seemed to be the proper thing to say in order to let someone know you were concerned for them. The problem is, when you don’t believe that prayer can truly make a difference and change things, it becomes another duty to add to your day.  With four children, I felt that I had enough on my daily agenda as it was.

Not only that, I was terrible at praying!  I was always intimidated by the beautiful prayers of many at my Baptist church, and I felt very inadequate in comparison.  It wasn’t until our WMU leader decided to start the women of our church praying together that I learned the importance of prayer.  Fortunately, our leader encouraged us to get the book: What Happens When Women Pray, by Evelyn Christenson.  This book was absolutely perfect because it encouraged women to start praying together by going around the room and praying only one or two sentences at a time.  Although this was hard for some, it helped teach those of us who were new at it how to pray aloud without feeling intimidated.  I learned to start praying to God rather than for those around me.  To my surprise, I instantly began to love gathering and praying with these women, and as we began to see answered prayer, I was completely hooked! 

Admittedly, by nature I am not a very submissive or “obedient” person.   I am not proud of these shortcomings… I am just being honest.  As a child, I always wanted to know why, and I absolutely hated the response: “because I said so!”  I am a person who wants answers!  If I am going to take the time to pray, I want to know that there is a reason for it.  I respect those who can obey easily and trust naturally, without having to know why.  I am just not one of those people.  Yet, I know God made me the way that He did for a reason.  I can be very hard-headed at times, yet once I understand, I am also very persistent. 

God was merciful enough, in spite of my stubbornness, to give me the answers that He knew I was about to need regarding the purpose of prayer.  In the months leading up to Kaylee’s diagnosis, I became a prayer warrior!  After moving to Birmingham in 1998, I started meeting weekly with my sisters-in-law and a few close friends, and we would pray over everything.  We were truly amazed at the difference our prayers began to make in the small areas of our lives. We totally submitted our lives and our futures to God during this time.  It is a time I will always cherish!

Prayer brings us into the presence of God.  Prayer IS powerful and effective!  Prayer changes circumstances and prepares the way for God to move in our lives.  I still don’t completely understand it or why God requires it of us.  I suppose we should feel honored that God does require our participation and that we are of such great value and worth to Him!   Through the years I have slowly learned to be more submissive, even in the areas I don’t understand.  Yet, from first hand experience I can tell you that prayer IS, without a doubt, the most effective tool we have to battle the enemy and to bring about change! 

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  James 5:16