The Power of Prayer

I have a faint memory. I'm standing in a pew with my parents and I'm holding my dad's hand. I'm looking around and he squeezes mine it to remind me that were are in the middle of praying. I close my eyes and return to my prayers. I can't say when that happened, but I know that it did happen.

I also remember my mom. Telling me, reminding me that GOD is a GOD that listens and that he's with you and listening to you wherever you go and that you can pray no matter where you are.

I may have fallen away from faith when I got older,but even in my darkest times I never forgot. Those memories and that wisdom was always there, I was just afraid to use it and afraid that I had veered so far off the course that, 'How could GOD ever want me back?' That's literally what I thought and when I felt alone and in the dark. I wanted to be protected and wanted to have peace, but why would GOD want someone like me?

Now that I am older and I have actually read the Bible, I found in John 3:16 it says that 'GOD so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and who so believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.' It wasn't just for the people with clean backgrounds, or the pastors or the people that spent their lives in church. It was for everyone. I know that people were praying for my salvation and because of prayer I was able to come to the Father and be forgiven of my sins and the burdens of my past and all of my sins were placed on Jesus when he died at the cross. That was his point in coming to Earth as a man and the entire point of him dying on the cross. To save and to free us from the sins that bound us.

A great joy I have as a parent is that before we eat and before we go to bed and randomly throughout the day, Emma loves to grab our hands a bow her head and she just waits. I don't know if she's praying in her mind or not, but I do know that she's waiting on me to lead in prayer. We can't start eating until we've prayed. I hope and prayer is that she learn from my mistake, and that she never have to feel the loneliness and unrest of being away from the Prince of Peace. I my hope and prayer is that she never forgets.