This Week's Quotation:
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
~ Romans 12:12
Pray Without Ceasing
Terri McCartney
Today I write about the most powerful tool in my spiritual repertoire: prayer—it is the most fulfilling habit of my life.
For several decades, I have passionately pursued developing an intimate relationship with God. The greatest tool I discovered to support that goal was the power of prayer. Without the grace and strength I receive when I share what's in my heart with our Creator, I would not have been able to endure any of the major challenges and losses that my life journey has brought.
I have conversations with God throughout the day, and I don't experience them as one-sided monologues. Whether I'm expressing gratitude or requesting guidance, I honestly feel heard. I feel that God knows my heart. And I feel responded to, even if not in the way I expected to be.
Prayer is my ideal remedy for anything that troubles or unsettles my mind. It is also where I turn when I feel joy and upliftment! My conversations with God are about anything stirring in my body, mind, heart or soul. And they always begin with a genuinely felt gratitude that I have a wise and loving creator to turn to and rely on. Experience has taught me that there is no more dependable source!
Everything can change in a moment. From heaven's perspective, everything that occurs is somehow a blessing in disguise. And that's something my human mind can't compute. There's been so much that I've lived through that is beyond my ability to understand. Prayer has been a saving grace—giving me the experience that the Great Spirit is always with me. Prayer fills me with a peace that, given the circumstances, feels miraculous in itself!
About Open Windows
We, the authors of this blog, dedicate it to the transparent exploration of the world's sacred scripture and enlightened spiritual thought. We believe that the original inspiration of all faiths comes from a common source, named and revered in a myriad of ways. With that understanding, the innumerable symbols, beliefs, and practices of faith cease to divide. They become open windows to a common reality that inspires and unifies us. We find deeper insight and nourishment in our own faith and from the expression of faith from others.
We hope these weekly quotations and meditations speak to your heart and soul.
You have beautifully indicated, Terri, the only way to live a generative and purposeful life. Pray without ceasing, not to some separate and distant God, but to the God Reality at the very core of our being, bringing a 24/7 blessing to our creative field.
Dear Terri – this is a beautiful offering. One of the things that we may not realize right away is that sometimes the answers form God/Source are not at all what we expected – but the longer we are on the planet – the more we get to realize that the answers we receive are always the best answers in retrospect. We live and learn…..
This is a new definition of prayer for me, as I have been trained in the Anglican etc version of prayer to get something from God – which doesn’t ring true to me. Today, I see it as when I gave in to my Silky Terrier who lives for hunting in the hay shed, but chewed through a fuel line on a mower and I haven’t understood how to prevent a recurrence. However, the kingdom of heaven is also at hand! and a pen I had stored there presented itself while I was wanting to do something else, which I then used to create a barrier around the mower and was able to let my girl loose so she could hunt to her hearts delight. I now believe a prayer was being answered. Many thanks for your insights.