Wednesday, March 4

What Prayer Means To Me

All too often when we pray we are asking God for something and then go on about our way without waiting for an answer. I believe prayer is a three step process: Ask - ­Be still and listen - Act. The first is to ask, but far more important is to be still and listen to what God is telling you and then to trust and act in the way that God would have you act. God’s answers come in many different ways that often we do not expect. The answer can be a feeling, a desire, a direction or an entirely different event. The prayer I pray most often is simply “Lord show me the way.” This was a breath prayer I used in my days as a Stephen’s minister. Things don’t always unfold in the manner that I am thinking or that I prefer, but if I continue to pray and am still and listen, God always answers - maybe not what I wanted or expected, but always answers.

When I was a Stephen’s minister I had a care receiver who was dying but was in the denial phase. We had a close relationship over several months, many times just watching his favorite basketball team, Duke, play on TV. One day when I was in a Board of Directors meeting with our Board from Tokyo, his wife called and wanted me to come immediately; she said that my care receiver had entered into the anger phase and wanted to see me immediately. I couldn’t come home until that evening and by then he wasn’t going to see anyone.

I called his wife the next morning and he still wasn’t seeing anyone, and worse yet his TV was out and Duke was playing Carolina that afternoon. She had called Charter but they hadn’t come so I offered to come and troubleshoot the best I could. She said better not yet, but if Charter doesn’t come, I’ll call back. About an hour later she called and said Charter hadn’t come and her husband was having a fit to see the Duke game. I got my cable tools and went to his house and set in the driveway praying my breath prayer “Lord show me the way.” I sat and waited - no answer so I tried again and just sat there. Finally I opened my eyes and looked in the rear view mirror of my car and pulling into the driveway behind me were two contractors from Charter. We went into the house together and found the problem, but it was inside the house so the contractors couldn’t work on it. I begged enough material from them to make the repair and got the television to come on, but with no color since it was an old set. I went over and touched the knob and the color came on. My care receiver and I were then able to sit down and watch Duke beat Carolina and at the same time start working through his anger and had a great visit.

God does answer prayer, but we must stop and listen, and then trust

and act.

Bob Edwards