Prayer

I am reading this book called How to Know God: The Soul's Journey Into the Mystery of Mysteries by Deepak Chopra. I've barely cracked it open and am reading it rather slowly; even finding myself re-reading certain paragraphs or entire pages to make sure I understood him correctly. It's very good, well written and organized, and it's reminding me just how spiritual I truly am deep inside. As for my beliefs in a Higher Power, well, that's a bit too personal for this blog entry, I think. But you see the title of the book I'm reading, that should give you some idea where I'm at on that one!

Anyway, while the book is enlightening me all about the essential meaning of A God or A Higher Power, etc, it also brings up the idea of praying: what it truly is and why we all do it. Some people call it Intention while others call it meditation. Regardless of what it's called, the basic idea is always present...

Ironically, Oprah sent me an email over the weekend (actually, I subscribe to her ezine called Oprah's Spirit Newsletter all about these sort of spiritual matters in general) in which there was a link to an article called Prayer 101.

As I started reading this "slideshow" of an article, I immediately related to it in that several weeks ago, when I was feeling very sad and hopeless, terrified and worried beyond belief, I told a dear friend of mine that "I prayed...more like BEGGED to get through all this alive." Interestingly enough, the article above begins by defining the word prayer: "from the Latin precari, 'to beg.'" So I guess I wasn't that far off after all!

The past couple of weeks, I've been given a lot of thought to the fact that I know of probably a couple dozen people or more who are praying for me. For most of these people, praying feels like the only thing they can do to help me and Pete. That may be true but it does mean so very much to me because I do believe in the power of prayer. I do believe that all of your prayers are going to the same Universal Divine, by whatever name you call him, her or it, and with my name attached to those prayers, their power comes directly to me via said Universal Divine.

Last week a friend came to visit me and she told me that she's praying for me. That's always nice to hear and it brings a smile to my face, so I thanked her for it. She then told me that her daugher prays for me, too. I thought that was sweet, especially since, at the time, I wasn't even sure I had ever met her daughter (I have since this conversation took place). Again, I thanked her and asked her to thank her daughter on my behalf. She went on to say that her daughter's friend prays for me, too! Now that one blew me away. Can you imagine? A pre-teen who's never in her life met me or probably even has no idea there's anything as bad in the world as cancer is praying for me?! ME? Wow. What did I ever do to deserve such...magic (that's the only word I could think of to describe the power I believe comes from true, devoted prayer)?! I didn't know what to say to that, but somehow it opened the door to a much bigger conversation on this particular topic. After our visit concluded and my friend left the house, I sat down and thought about all the other people who have told me that their children or their friends or their entire churches or certain groups of people (even book clubs!) are praying for me. All of them. I even have a great pen/email pal that I've befriended through another dear friend...but this new friend lives halfway across the country and I've never met her before in my life! And yet I know she's praying for me, as I am for her.

Who says prayer has to be part of any religious belief? Who says Christians are the only ones who have a right to pray? Who says even atheists (which I am not) can't pray for the power of science and medicine to work? I think these are the kinds of questions my mom would pose to me on this subject, to which I must answer NOBODY! EVERYBODY CAN PRAY! You can do it and call it whatever you want, if the word "prayer" isn't comfortable to you! The Oprah's Spirit article says, "Fake it until it's real" and that's what I did! Really, it wasn't until just recently (within the past month) that I've come to release my anxieties over using the word "pray" and realized that when I say that "I'm sending good thoughts your way" or "I'm sending you good vibes" one way or another, that is all prayer. Even if you're just sitting there thinking something along the lines of, "Oh man, I hope Abbey pulls through this and comes out healthy and happy and ready to move forward with her life!"...sorry to tell you, my friend, but that is prayer, too! And now I'm over my conflicts in using that word. And here's why...

I may often falter in my own belief of positive thinking or losing my faith in the power my visualizations may have over this tumor business, but one thing that I am sure of still is that I can be, rather I AM a medical miracle. You hear all these stories on the news or in books about certain people of various ages who are diagnosed with a variety of rare and terminal illnesses, only to be told they have months or even just weeks to live...and yet, there they are, 20 years later, alive and healthy and no trace of the aforedoomed disease, telling their story. Those stories are nothing short of miracles, as far as I'm concerned. And what causes miracles? Personally, I believe that if enough people are truly, whole-heartedly, soulfully praying for the same person, the same healing effect, then miracles can happen...yes, even to me. And even to you. Because while you're over there praying for me, I, too, am praying for you.

Oprah's web article further addresses Distant Healing, by explaining it as: "It's praying for people in a different location who don't know they're being prayed for. This eliminates the power of suggestion or hope—the placebo effect." That's the kind of stuff that's working for me!

Pete and I very recently found out that a dear elderly family member is quite ill and in the hospital. Unfortunately, her time on this earth may come to a close sooner than expected. And here, we, too, find ourselves thousands of miles away feeling helpless and unable to do anything productive for her and for the family in general. So what can we do? We, too, can pray. While Pete sends good thoughts in their direction, I sit down, quietly contemplate and pray for them, for us, for everyone involved. Will you please pray for them and us, too?