Prayers answered

I used to see prayer as a very trivial act. God already knows my needs and my wants - then why bother him with words and prayers? Why repeat something he already knows? Why ask for or say something that he already sees in my heart?

Recently, I've come to understand that prayer is more for me than for God. Prayer helps me understand things and put my life into perspective. I am able to slow down and tell someone what's on my mind, what is bothering me and what I feel - sans filter. I guess you can say that prayer is how God gets to talk to ME. Maybe in the future I might be able to "hear" his voice, but for now I'm sure he's working on me with little nudges and pushes in the right direction. The fact that these pushes are so tiny is why I often don't recognize that God is listening. But he always does, he is ALWAYS there.

In my final year in high school, I was asked to write down a prayer to God in catechism class. A private prayer to God - asking him to bless me with good marks. The Sister in charge (Sister S.) of our class asked us to be "specific" in our prayer and put a number to our grade - not just a vague prayer for "high grades". She also encouraged us to ask God for a "perfect score". I found this a little weird, it felt wrong. I knew the amount of work I was putting in was not enough. I wasn't the hardest of workers - So, this specific prayer for a perfect score, seemed wrong on my part. I altered my prayer, I asked God to help me prepare better and prayed that my final score be above 90%. 

Sister S. then asked us all to tell her in private what "goal score" we had asked God for. When I told her, she laughed and said that I should have asked for more. But she didn't ask me to change it in any way, so I kept the paper safe as it was.

When our grades came out, I got a 90.5%. I just sat down and laughed - I had done the prayer as an exercise. Not expecting an answer - not really believing that God listened to me. And this grade felt like God was telling me, "I heard you - I heard EVERY SINGLE WORD". I met Sister S. again and we had a good laugh about it. But this is a story I love pondering on. It was a lesson for me and is one of the main events that made me realize how ever-present God is in our lives. 

I hope this put a smile on your face too, God can have a sense of humor in his teaching. I pray that we realize and see how much God works in our lives - in little as well as big ways.  

Theresa.V