31 days of Prayer

I heard about a great link up for the month of October, and I felt I wanted to be a part of it. The 31 days link up is hosted by The Nesting Place. 

For the month of October I will be talking a little about prayer each day, what I am learning and and how prayer is blessing my life. 

Prayer has been a constant thread in my life. My parents prayed for me and as I grew, I learned how to pray on my own. Prayer is a very powerful tool in my life. It allows me to speak directly to the creator of the Universe. For so long I wondered if it even mattered. 

When I was 18, I learned just how much it really does. One event, changed my life and my perspective on prayer and faith.

I was in my 2nd semester of my Freshman year in college when I was involved in a serious accident. In the days leading up to it I had been in deep thought about the beliefs passed down to me by my family. Did I really believe them, was that for me or for them? I think this is a natural part of the growing process. I started to pray about my faith. I asked God to help me understand if my faith was my own or if it was inherited. 

We were singing along with Celine Dion's Only One Road. We were eating popcorn, drinking Snapple Iced Tea and enjoying the smell of the air after it rains. We had just finished reading a Devotional from the NIV Woman's Devotional Bible. It was a Sunday and we were missing church to drive back to school after spending the weekend in Dallas. We talked about the people we were driving past, taking notice of each time we passed one couple in particular. 

Suddenly I remember spinning and the overwhelming sound of screeching tires and crushing metal. I closed my eyes and I felt a rush of emotion as I relived various parts of my life. I felt the emotion of each event...joy, rejection, sadness, pride and happiness. They were all there in my head like a video projector showing on a window it was all so bright. 

I remember opening my eyes and seeing ants crawling on the bark of the tree my friends car landed in. I remember wondering if I survived, and then thinking I don't feel any pain so I must not have. Then it hit me like a wave, I knew I was alive because all I could feel was pain. I looked over at the drivers seat to see if my friend was ok. She was. We both did. We reacted very differently in that moment. In life we are both very strong willed with dominant personalities. I became very controlled and reflective. She was very stressed and expressive. We knew we were in a tree and we talked about what to do next. Then we saw an ambulance. They drove by, we were screaming for help but clearly they couldn't here us. We were certain they couldn't see us either. Later the ambulance returned. They had stopped to help the couple we repeatedly saw on the road. That couple had stopped to hike back and help us. 

In the moments, days, months and years that followed one thing was certain. I knew my faith was my own. I knew I believed in him as they carved us out of the car and I could see the outline of my head in the car window, but I wasn't cut. It was clear when everything but us and the Bible were left intact. I knew He was the reason we were still there able bodied and alive. There was NO OTHER explanation. My question was answered my prayers were heard. My Faith was MY own. My relationship alone with him was born.

It grew from that day and prayer has been the vessel that keeps my life so intwined with the one who gave me life more than once. 

I prayed, he answered. I anticipate that I will share much of my soul this month. I am confident that he always answers prayer. I also can tell you that it most often does not look the way I expected when I asked.

I would also like to invite you to share your prayer requests with me and I will gladly pray for you this month as well. If there is something you would like for me to pray about please email me or if you prefer leave it in the comments.

You can find the entire series here.