Prayer ?

[Wayne Goodwin]

Now i am well aware that some of you don't believe in God , Bible , or some don't believe anything to live a normal life . I see on Face Book and many other site's that Prayer is needed for maybe , A wife , husband , child . Even if you don't believe i feel it is good to speak to your soul for the well being of that person's request .

What do you think ?

Do you believe or feel Praying works ?

[P.A.]

Just a simple question. Have you ever conclusively see a prayer answered? No hear say, no "it's in the bible, but a real answer to a prayer.

[Wayne Goodwin]

No i have not ....

[Wayne Goodwin]

I guess people say it works because the person they pray for gets better . but they think it comes from prayer .

[Kim]

I believe in prayer and that it has worked in my life. When you pray, it doesnt MEAN you are gonna get exactly what you asked for. Think back to when you were a kid and you asked your parents for a certain designer clothes, a cool toy, a curfew extension, etc. The answer wasnt always the one you wanted, was it?! NOT for ME, anyway but in time, you come to understand what the point was of your mom or dad refusing to say YES to whatever it was you wanted. I believe its the same with prayer.  Prayer is always "ANSWERED". Sometimes the answer is NO or MAYBE LATER.

When EVERYTHING is all RIGHT with the world and life is peaceful, people just go on their merry way and do their thing keep to themselves and keep everything the same but do you notice when things like natural disasters and terrorist incidents and tragedies and etc occur that people come out of the woodwork to HELP in record numbers? Then after things are starting to be "repaired" and "recovered", people start changing laws, starting foundations, creating support groups, etc. 

I just know that in my own life, I have prayed for things and have been disappointed at the answer sometimes but it is always later that I find the reason why it went "the other way".

I will be honest with you.....this COULD all be coincidence and that what happened would have happened ANYWAY but as a regular Pray-er,  it means a lot to experience what I do when I pray and the results it leads to...

[frenchy]

good answer kim .. its pretty much how i would have put it too .. to be a person of prayer you have to believe in god .. now your idea of god may be different than mine and the guy across the street from you but you still have to believe in god in some way .. and thats a journey in itself .. to find that inner enlightenment .. as far as prayer workin or not there are a lot of medical miracles that cannot be explained and all the dr.s can say is we don't know why this happened . its beyond our understanding by all accounts they should be dead but yet they live .. or they should be paralyzed and yet they walk .. does it happen all the time ?? no .. like kim said and i'll repeat it .. sometimes you pray and god says no .. but they've done blind studies and the group thats prayed has done better and the medical profession can't explain it .. they can guess .. and their best guess is that your faith was so strong it healed you .. and wasn't jesus the one who said if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move a mountain ?? so to sum up i'd think the prayer would be more effective if you believed it would work .. but .. always a big butt in there ain't there ?? good thing i like big butts .. sometimes god says no .. i saw this movie back in the 90's with steve martin and debra winger called leap of faith about these phony faith healers who made it a business of fleecin a whole town and then movein on to the next town . till one day they really got a miracle .. it was a good movie weather you were a believer or not . i still remember the tag line for it too .. real miracles , sensibly priced .. 

[AmerikinWmn]

Per Kim & frenchy's responses. A ways back Garth Brooks did a song called unanswered prayers. It kinda covers what they said. If you believe that God will ultimately do what's best for you, the prayers he doesn't answer may be the most profound.

A friend of mine lost her 19 yr old daughter 3 days ago. She came home from work, cooked dinner for her and her boyfriend and while doing dishes she dropped to the floor and died. Evidently she had some kind of undiagnosed heart issue. How you recover from that, how you keep your faith, is beyond me but my friend thanks God for the time she had her beautiful daughter. I guess it really is about faith in whatever God you believe in.

[dwalt]

I'm going to be real honest on this one.  Yes, I believe in prayers. And yes, it works for me. If I didn't have faith I would be a lost soul.

[P.A.]

I lost what little faith I had when my wife died and left me to care for an adult child with Down Syndrome alone. I didn't pray for her to get better because I knew that didn't work. How could I possibably find anything in my situation that is good. Well at least I am not poor, guess that is good.

[Kim]

I dont know WHY 19 year olds drop dead suddenly or why your wife died too soon, P.A. but blessings are in every bad unexplainable thing that happpens in our life. Its not always easy to find but they're always there. We live in an imperfect world where death, destruction, and disease is just part of it. A child with Down's Syndrome is not a curse. They are just people who think differently. Your child will never truly grow up and be like other children but consider the people who say "I wish my kids were still little". YOU wish your child was growing up. But in a way, she IS growing up. Each child is different and this is the way yours is. Enjoy the simple innocence that we all lose. Hang in there and find ways to enjoy your child. Someone else may be thinking they'd rather have YOUR CHILD who probably isnt addicted to drugs or running wild.

 

[P.A.]

I do enjoy my child and love him to death but I just wish his mother was around to help. He is very high functioning and has a job at a funeral home. There just times that I would like to be able to just do what I want to do.

[Kim]

P.A....when he is working, take a "mini vacation". If you like the outdoors, find a lake to walk around or take a book or a cheeseburger and enjoy YOUR time. Go to a movie. I take it he your son works at least a couple hours at t time. Reconnect with friends or meet new ones. What are you interested in? Join something. PLan a real vacation to something your son might enjoy. A weekend is probably fine enough. Its not the life you planned on but it CAN be satisfactory.

I am NOT saying I know how you feel and what your life is like AT ALL but when I chose to homeschool my learning disabled children and all my fellow homeschool friends were saying they "DID SCHOOL" in 3-4 hours and here I am...after SIX, i would get discouraged being with them 24/7. YES, I CHOSE to do it but when I DID choose it, I became STUCK into finishing what I started. I was seeing my life going byand me not having the freedom I dreamed of when they were little. ONE DAY, when they were old enough to be home alone and they were being a MAJOR pain in the butt, it just occurred to me that I CAN carve out a little away from home time for myself. At that point,  I TRULY wished I could just get in the car and DRIVE to a Paradise destination but I settled for a local lake instead. I grabbed my favorite fast food to take along with me, and settled into a lovely spot, opened a notebook and started to WRITE. After I ate, I walked around the Riverpark for awhile and ultimately after about an hour and a half or so, I came back refreshed and renewed and ready to deal with my life again. I did a variation of this at least once a week EVERY week and it really did me a lot of good.

[Kim]

OH and hey, by the way, there is a movie called "Unanswered Prayers"...its really good and it seems based on that song by Garth Brooks....