Non Fiction Memoir
I attempted what prayer was at a tender age of five. Mom had set a scrumptious supper out for us to eat that pulled my attention away from the distraction of the outside window. I had been looking at the scene on our faded chipping wooden porch where kittens of various sizes and colors were playfully engaging in fights. She pulled my attention away from the to ask me something foreign.
“Would you like to bless this food, Lydia?”
Glancing back at my mother, father and little sister, I stared at them for a long moment with a raised eyebrow. But then remembering the prayer I’d heard others say at my kindergarten I nodded.
Clasping my hands together mimicking the pictures I’ve seen related to prayer in my old school recalled the words always prayed over out snacks. “Deeear Jesush thank you for this mood. Please blesh it to our bowdies and help the little children come to you.”
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Quickly taking their attention away from my prayer. Although mom complimented me for my pretty prayer. My eyes, on the other hand, were filled with wonder and marveled at what I’d accomplished through the prayer. In the past, I’d seen adults pray and other children as well. I’d followed their guidelines for the most part. The reward left me in marvel.
I wished to do it again. So every chance I got I started to volunteer for prayer. My little sister Whitney was unwilling to pray. She found it not as appealing as I to ask for blessings over our meal.
Many people would compliment my prayer and coo over what they thought was an adorable way to say grace. I preened over the attention it afforded me and enjoyed saying the prayer.
It was frivolous task yet even so I wished to have a stronger connection to it. I just wanted to understand prayer. You could say I was extremely curious.
As I was driving into the church parking lot I had to take a deep breath. After leaving another frustrating day at school and then going to work right afterwards, I needed to calm myself down. I looked in the rear view mirror one more time to make sure I looked halfway presentable. I fixed my wind-blown hair by pulling it back in a high ponytail and put on some Burt’s Bees lip balm before exiting the car. I grabbed my Bible and notebook and locked the doors. As I walked towards the youth building a wave of comfort washed over me.
Book Review of The Path of Prayer: Four Sermons on Prayer by St. Theophan the Recluse
...hey were praying for world piece, a family member or friend, or the strength to carry out each day. The prayer that I did hear twice though, was a prayer for how thankful they were for their life.
Early one morning, in 2007, I heard God 's voice while I was praying for me at my church. I immediately answered God with a sob, “Yes, I will. I will start!” That was because I obviously understood what this voice meant. God wanted me to start worship service for infants and toddlers. At that time, in my church, a worship service for infants and toddlers was not set up. Moms could not attend worship service because of their little babies and were getting tired out their life without worship. God kept giving me a burden in the Holy Spirit to set up worship service for them. However, I was too selfish to obey God. To tell the truth, I turned my face from that burden. I wanted to go to main sanctuary as soon as possible because my daughter was almost ready to join in pre-k worship service. However, the sudden voice of God changed my life. I started to “Start!” I set up worship service unofficially, and started to worship with 3 toddlers first. Their moms finally could go to worship God. After one year, I became a director of toddlers’ Sunday school for under 3-year-old from 2008 to
My father and mother would always instruct me how to pray by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Every morning we would go in my parents’ bedroom, get on our knees and begin to pray. This devotional time was spent every morning as soon as we got out of bed. In fact, if we were asleep we were awakening to begin our daily devotion. I remember, my father would begin the prayer and each of us had to lead a portion of the ongoing prayer. My parents always instilled in me that prayer was the key to anything that I wanted to accomplish in life. However, after I prayed, I needed to believe that the work was already accomplished. Growing up in my environment, I could not understand as a child why they would wake me out of the bed in order for to come and pray. Today, I can honestly say I appreciate my parents for showing me the value of prayer. I can relate to the topic of the use of prayer because of a situation which transpired in my life approximately fifteen years ago. I have experienced the miraculous power and the value of prayer. My father was the manager and lead singer of a gospel group. The group would rehearse every Tuesday night with the singers and the musicians which consisted of approx ten members. On this particular Tuesday night after rehearsal, he complained of a slight headache. He didn’t think much more about the headache because he thought he just needed some rest after a long day at
...egan talking and praying a lot to God. I asked him to help me. At the end of the week she began to grow on him and he began to love her too. I thought to myself that God had answered my prayers. "Snowball" is thirteen months old now and about ten pounds. I thank God for bringing her into my life. I feel that while I performed an altruistic deed, God rewarded me anyway.
As my friend poured her heart out to me and ask questions I didn't really have answers to, as I sat there listening: I prayed. I prayed for my friend. That God would guide her and comfort her. I asked God to give me the words to say to bring encouragement and comfort to her.
Over these past few weeks I've realized the power of prayer & the power of my mother's prayers.
The lights dimmed. You could see everyone raising their hands while closing their eyes. In this moment, there was only silence. Each person keeping still. Tears running down the faces of the ones who have been touched. Touched not physically, but touched emotionally in the soul. In this moment there was no fear, there was only strength. Standing and gazing over all the people who were singing, I led them in praise and worship. For many years throughout my highschool career, I’ve led my youth and church through many worships noticing how each and every individual grows and prospers to enhance their fullest potentials. Leading through my voice has strengthen my voice. My voice has grown from a child to a young adults. Leading a group in my church through my voice has not always been easy though, but the ending reward of knowing what I have accomplished in aiding those who need the help is fulfilling.
After standing straight up again, we said, “God hears those to praise Him. Our Lord, praise be to you.” After repeating “God is the Greatest,” we bent down on our hands and knees to touch our noses to the floor and said, “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High.” We sat back up and repeated the last position and prayer three times. After a moment of silence, we repeated the whole prayer once more and ended by turning our heads to the left and saying, “May the peace and mercy of God be upon you.” Then, we turned to our right and repeated the same line. The end of the prayer is directed to the angels all around us. The prayer took about twenty minutes to complete.
We were trying for a child and I continually had to thank God for his goodness. There was a period of 18 months trying for a child, and I almost gave up, but yet I choose to get up every morning and thank God for my child who was not yet conceived. I continued to worship God through all disciplines the best that I could. On the 19th April this year I gave birth to a healthy beautiful baby girl.
But there is a caveat with this approach to prayer. If God really gave you all the requests you asked for, it would overwhelm you. In the same way, when God led the Israelites into the Promised Land, he didn't let them take it over completely right away; they took it over little by little - overcoming one enemy at a time.
prayer was pointless on the account of God will do what is right regardless of you asking. Kant
Murray, William J. Let Us Pray: A Plea for Prayer in Our Schools. New York: New York, 1995. Print.
Prayer is so powerful that we don’t even realise what it can do for others and our own lives. The physical world is always effected by what’s happening in the spiritual world first so prayer is the place to go!