Do you pray?  And if you do, do you believe it will be answered?

I pray.  I don’t always see dramatic results but every once in awhile I do.  I think God can tell when we’re ready to see some big changes.  They don’t always come without cost but they give us reason to believe that anything is possible and they restore wavering faith and hope when life gives us the feeling things will never change for the better.

I’m 50 years old and I still joke about “what I’ll be when I grow up.”  Have you ever done that?  Even though it’s typically followed by laughter and a big smile, it causes me to wonder why.  At times I allow myself to ponder on all the things that could have been but each and every time I reach the very same conclusion.  I’ve lived.  I’ve loved and I’ve done my best.  God puts those conclusions in there for me.  He knows I’m living out my life in the way He intended.  He just sometimes has a hard time helping me to believe every second of every day has had value.  I’ve touched a few hearts.  I’ve listened to my own and I know great things are coming.  Great things like believing in myself and knowing that no matter what life gives me or what life takes away, I matter.  I’ve swept floors and ironed piles of laundry.  I’ve scrubbed stains out of towels at a hotel that should have been thrown away.  I’ve walked all day for days on feet that are screaming for relief.  I’ve worked three jobs so that I could pave the path for something better when making everyone else happy just wasn’t enough anymore.

This isn’t about my life.  It’s about everyone’s life.  We all have times when we need to believe we’re here for a reason.  We all have times when life drags us down and forces us back to our very foundation so that we remember what really matters.  It isn’t about money.  It isn’t about things.  It isn’t about having the best of everything.  It’s about having a love and peace filled heart that doesn’t need to be reminded to pray only when something bad happens.

There’s a woman laying in a hospital bed right now fighting for her life.  She’s only one of the many that are fighting at this very second and she inspired these thoughts.  Her heart is bigger than any I’ve known and in a very short amount of time she has made me feel like there are people out there that really do care.  She was that person waiting for me when I moved to a city where I knew no one.  She took away my feelings of loneliness when I felt more alone than I ever had.  I might never get the chance to have one of those heart to heart talks with her ever again but I know that God has a plan and no matter what that plan is I know He’ll be there and He’ll find a way to help me understand.  As I think back about all those moments when she was at her “wit’s end” with pressures from work and trying to find ways to cope with several personal issues that elevated the stress level in her life I saw myself and everyone else.

Today is a new day.  I prayed for Mary.  I prayed for others and now, before work, I’m going to pray about the day ahead.  I’m going to ask God for another day that is filled with more joyful moments than painful ones and I have a feeling we’re all going to see some rather immediate results.

Thanks for being a part of my journey.  I’m glad our paths crossed.  Have a love and faith filled day and know you are never alone.