In my quiet moments, usually while the kids are in school and N is busy working, one of my most recurring thoughts is : I am where I am today because so many people prayed and are still praying for me. Family, close friends, family friends, friends of friends, former colleagues, relatives, online friends ... almost everyone has expressed their generosity in terms of setting aside prayer time for my healing.
While I believe in the power of prayers 101%, I had never prayed so hard before in my life. At least I don't recall having been so immersed in it the way I have been since I was diagnosed. I make it sound so bad, right? How can someone who went to all-girls Catholic schools all her life say that she's never been deep in prayer ever before? Maybe I'm exaggerating because I want to emphasize how often and how more intent I pray nowadays.
Do I have a routine? Yes, I realize that a routine really helps one focus. It helps you not to forget to pray. If you have a schedule, you follow it, you get used to it, until it becomes 2nd nature to you. I pray as soon as I wake up, before each meal, before I go to sleep and anytime in between whenever I feel like it or whenever I have something important to say to God.
This is how I pray :
A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication
There are different versions of this but this acronym is easy to remember. Any prayerful person will tell you that this is how anyone should pray. Always, always, always! You must humble yourself, apologize and say thanks before you ask. Not so hard to do, isn't it?
But always, at the end of the day, that's when I take out my prayer list and lift up my prayers for other people. I'm not kidding, I really have a list. I wish I could share a photo of it here because it's stored in my phone. Unfortunately, I can't share that because the people on that list might not want their names to be published in a public blog such as mine. I even wrote down why I'm praying for them (i.e., illness, death, special intentions, etc.). I think it's the least I can do, seeing that many have done the same for me. How difficult is it to set aside a few minutes each day to talk to God and ask Him to bless others?
I don't know if I should be happy about it but ever since my diagnosis, my prayer list has gained a few extra names, mostly of people who are recently-diagnosed with some other type of cancer. I added one more name just today, earlier this afternoon to be exact. A friend (I have to be very very vague about this) told me that her tests didn't turn out so well. In fact, the results are quite shocking, I didn't quite know what to say to her at first.
Mom says it's okay to be sad that the list is growing, especially if it contains names of people I personally know. But I should also feel fortunate that I can intercede for them and help them this way.
Here's a quote I've kept all this time. It was tweeted sometime ago and I really had to save it:
When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them
And sometimes, when you are safe and happy,
remember that someone has prayed for you.
I hope you all had a weekend as peaceful and love-filled as mine.
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