There is something that most people take for granted. It is a powerful weapon many people feel they can live without. They think they can do everything in their own strength. Prayer is the one thing that when it entered my life it added a piece of God that was the center of everything, I have ever overcome in my life.
I remember being sixteen years old and wanting the illness that would last for many years to be gone. This was not God’s plan I would later find out. He would remind me of Paul’s thorn and how my illness was similar. It would comfort me in some ways but in other ways it would add many questions.
Sometimes asking God why leaves us feeling hopeless when we don’t understand what He is doing. I prayed many days and the years rolled on with no end to the mental pain I endured. The blessing has always been that prayer made bearing some of the things I endured divinely easier to live with.
I prayed for peace, blessings, opportunities, support, love, friendship, and the list go on. Though life has been hard down through the years, God answered my prayers. Through the hard times God always helped me to overcome the obstacles. Sometimes I thought I would not make it through the pain of life and battling a mental illness. Ultimately, it left some invisible scars, but I kept right on going through the grace of God.
There is no weapon against the trials we face like prayer. In the roughest times of the struggles with my illness it was prayer that got me through it all. I have seen prayer cause the symptoms of my illness to subside. It was no cure, but it would cause me to be able to do things the doctors said I would not be able to do. I graduated college with two degrees. I worked jobs doctors said was not a good fit for my illness, but I worked them. Sometimes they thought I would not be able to function the same when I hit crisis and needed to be in the hospital.
Through all these things my prayers and the prayers of others made the difference I needed to overcome all the things I endured. It was prayer that allowed me to accomplish things doctors, counselors, and therapists thought I could not do.
The next time you question the power of prayer remember that some people like me would not make it without it. Also remember you should not try to live in this world without a prayer life. It is the antidote God has given us to promote hope, breakthrough, and victory in our lives. Prayer does not make things easy, but it does make the impossible possible. It is through prayer and faith in God that He answers our problems.
When we are believing God will answer our prayers, we must trust Him. The other piece is making sure that what we are asking God is His divine will for our lives. At sixteen I wanted my mental illness to go away. That was all I wanted. I never thought God would use my illness to help so many people once I matured and learned how to live with the illness. It was a long and hard road to travel, but God got me through it one prayer at a time.
Prayer changes everything!
“Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
“rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality” (Romans 12:12-13).
“So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:21-22).
I hope you have enjoyed this message.
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