What is prayer to me??

My definition of prayer

the most precious gift one has been given

the ability to talk with our Father in heaven, the ability to express our deepest fears, to put into words our thoughts, our secrets, our hopes, our mis deeds, our weaknesses, our stresses, our dramas, etc...

the rite to talk without fear of judgement, the rite to voice ourselves without chastisement, without ridicule, without reproach, without, etc...

the promise that if we ask with true intent in our hearts, with unconditional love in our hearts that it will be answered.

the one constant I have had in my life is prayer, many people come and go in your life but God is always there, he is constant, he will not turn away from you as long as you are following in his footsteps!

In my life, growing up, we were never denied  prayer, it just was not ever initiated or done in our home, church really was not either, sometimes we would go to vacation bible school in the summer and every once in a while our dad would take us and drop us at church on Sunday but to say we were a religious family would be way off mark. I remember always feeling so clean when we would go to vacation bible school and to church and I loved that feeling, I think this is the time that I began to pray, I did not do it out loud, I did not even let my family know that I did it for fear they would make fun of me. I learned that I could talk to God any time I was scared, any time there was hell going on in my household, anytime that I was anxious...so I will say that prayer got me through many hard times in my childhood, it was so nice to know that I had a friend, that I had someone to talk to and that when I did talk to him, I felt an eerie sense of calm, that everything would be okay. 

As my life has gone on and I have aged, I continue to pray, prayer has become such a huge part of my life, for many years I did not pray out loud, I did not say, "I am praying for you" let me pray for you, I did not let people know that everything I do is based on prayer because I did not want to be thought a religious nut. Now don't get a mental image of me walking around toting my bible and forcing myself on people, don't imagine me on bended knees all day long, don't think that I am overboard with my spirituality, I don't push, I don't force and I don't pester. God allows me to feel the needs of others, he allows all of us to, I just think that sometimes we don't rest our minds enough to hear his still quiet voice and to feel his gentle nudges in the direction he wants us to follow. In beginning this blog my main goal was to be able to let people know that prayer is a mighty tool, that the power of prayer is amazing, that when we ask with true intent and with love in our hearts, that when we lift prayers in the name of Jesus Christ that they are answered. As Garth Brooks sings, "some of life's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers" they are "not answered" all prayers are answered, just not in the way we would design them to be in our minds! I cannot tell you how many times I have not had prayers answered "my way" only to realize later that if they had been answered "my way" I would not be the person I am today. He has it written in his book the way the story goes, and boy am I enjoying the book:) 

In retrospect....I PRAY....I allow God to lead me in my ventures, I ask him advice and know that he will guide me in everything I do, I have an abundance of love in my heart for people, if I say I love you, I really mean it, if I say I would like to pray for you or pray with you, I am sincere. If you ask me to pray for you and yours, trust that it will be done. May you be blessed this day with time to sit in quiet wonder, have a good conversation with God and know that he above anyone is listening to your every word, he is not preoccupied with anything other than what is on your heart and what he can do to help you. May you feel his love each and every day and may he comfort you in the knowledge that you "never walk alone" Love in Christ.