Do you believe in the power of prayer? I certainly do. Prayers can really carry you through difficult times, especially when you can't seem to pray for yourself and others are lifting you up. God does answer prayers, not always the way we want, but He listens, He hears, and He is moved. Sometimes we think there are certain things we shouldn't say to God, but honestly God already knows. He simply wants us to share with him how we're feeling. It's okay if you're angry. He gets angry too. The amazing thing about prayer is that laying our burdens at His feet can really give us a peace that cannot be explained any other way.

A few years ago, my husband and I had been praying about his job. He was very unhappy at work. It was a toxic environment. We'd also been praying for our little dog Muffet, because she was getting very old. She was blind and deaf. We knew her time was short. Frankly, I was worried that I'd have to make a decision about her life, and I really didn't want to do that. But even more than that, my kids were fairly young and I didn't know how I would explain that to them. Death is hard enough but telling your five year old you had to put your beloved pet to sleep permanently just seemed like a huge mountain. At the same time, I was praying for my book Elvis Takes a Back Seat because it was at a publisher's being reviewed for possible publication. Well, two weeks before Christmas, we received an avalanche of answered prayer. My husband was laid off work, and he came home early and found that our sweet dog had died in her sleep, and sitting in the mailbox was a rejection of my book. WHAM! All in one day. Talk about painful. It really was. But every one of those was answered prayer. I won't lie and say it wasn't scary when my husband was out of work, but his eventual consulting led to new opportunities that have been such a blessing. I don't think he ever would have pursued that if he hadn't been forced to. My sweet Muffet passed away peacefully, and even though we missed her so much it helped knowing I didn't have to make that awful decision or attempt to explain it to my kids. Also, that rejection helped God lead me to the inspirational market. It was a journey I never would have anticipated.

Prayer, I've learned, is also more listening than us blathering on about our problems. Over the past few years, I've lost a few people in my life and it has been a painful parting. It's been amazing to me how God has whispered in my spirit words of comfort and peace, and I have clung to those words and His hand during those times.

It's also a great privilege to be able to pray for others and lift them up in prayer when they are burdened. So I would encourage you if you haven't prayed lately, go ahead and give it a go. If you need prayer, don't hesitate to ask someone to pray for you. You will bless them with that opportunity and you also will be blessed. If you are a prayer warrior, I ask that you lift fellow writer, Diann Hunt up as she is again battling cancer.

Labels: death, Diann Hunt, Inspirational author, loss of job, prayer, writing