Monday, July 28, 2014

Why Should You Pray?


On one of my last posts I had mentioned that God wants you to pray and ask daily. I also said that I was not sure why. But, I have recently come to the realization of why God wants you to pray. See it's not enough to ask once, you need to ask over and over again until you get your blessing. First, when you make it a daily commitment to ask God to bless you with a child, you are growing closer and closer to Him. Your relationship is getting stronger and this connection will bring you great peace.
Second, when you ask God daily for a baby, He's going to deliver your blessing in due time, but He is also going to do something better. He is going to guide you on the decisions and choices that you need to make. He is also going to place people in your path that are going to help you. So even though you are praying day in and day out and your promise has not come, He is answering you with small and big blessings, you just have to have faith and be on the look-out for these answers.
I'll give you an example of a recent turn of events that happened to a friend of mine. She is in the same situation as me and many of you. She was recently diagnosed with PCOS and has been trying to conceive for a while. I had not seen this friend for close to a year, when I received a text from her to get together for dinner. I had a sense that she wanted to talk to me about her trouble conceiving, and given that I had lots of experience in that area, I was ready to give her all my medical knowledge. At dinner she expressed her frustrations and something told me to tell her to pray! So, I reminded her about praying and how this was going to be the most effective tool at her disposal. She admitted to me that she had lost her faith. You see, she had made a commitment to go to church and pray daily for 1 month and she did without fail. When she did not get pregnant she became discouraged and lost her faith. I don't blame her, because I have been in the same situation before. I am full of hope at the beginning of my cycle and lose it when my period arrives. See, she was confident that by praying to God daily, He would answer her prayer, but He didn't. The next day after our dinner she called several reproductive endocrinologists to get an appointment but no one can see her for several months. Discouraged, she went to church to pray. The next day she got a call from one of the offices, they had a cancellation and could fit her in the following Wednesday. You may think this was a coincidence, but this was God answering her prayer. The morning of her appointment, I opened my "Jesus Calling" app (I highly recommend this app for daily inspirational messages) and here is what the message said..."I am working on your behalf...do not hurry this process...Abraham and Sarah had to wait many years for the fulfillment of My promise, a son". You may think it was a  coincidence, But what a big coincidence this must be! That this was the message on the day of her appointment with a reproductive endocrinologist! A message about a barren couple from the Bible that had trouble conceiving. On the same day that my friend had an appointment with a doctor that can hopefully help her conceive! Again I tell you, no! This was Him answering her prayers and letting her know that He's working behind the scenes for her and all of us. We just need to trust in His timing. Also that day, there was a beautiful rainbow behind my house, I only saw it because I had forgotten my lunch and had to turn back around. The rainbow is a sign of God's promise, just as Noah saw the rainbow after the great flood.
Unless you pray everyday, you will miss all of these wonderful messages that God is sending you. You may even see them as a coincidence, or worse, you are going to think that He is not answering you. You see, I had said that my friend had lost faith when she did not get pregnant after praying in church daily. But God did answer those prayers, He guided her into calling me for that dinner date. If she had not gone to dinner with me, she would not have started praying again, and she would not have gotten that appointment with the reproductive endocrinologist. He does answer you, just listen because the answer might not be what you expected.
I pray that God continues to guide my friend and all of us to the path that will end in the blessing of a child.

"If you believe you will receive everything you ask for in prayer" Matthew 
21:22 (NIV)


I found this prayer in my church's bulletin, I am now a big believer of praying to Mother Mary. As she knows and feels our deep desires. She is also the Mother of God and us and therefore wants us to be Mothers like her. Feel free to make this your daily prayer, asking her to intercede for you.

"Dearest Nursing Mother of Jesus and mine, listen to my humble prayer. Your motherly heart knows my every wish and my every need. To you only, His spotless Virgin Mother, has your Divine Son given to understand the sentiments which fill my soul. Yours was the sacred privilege of being the Mother of the Savior. Intercede with Him now, my loving Mother, that in accordance with His will, I may become the mother of other children; those that He would like to give to my husband (mention his name) and Me. This I ask, O sweet Lady of La Leche. O Heavenly Father, I beg you to grant us the gift of a child in the Name of your Divine son, my Lord and Redeemer and by the intercession of His holy and immaculate Mother, Amen."
Merry Christmas and a happy new baby in the New Year!