Absolutely Yours

One of our readers asked this question: If there are multiple appearances, is the intention to get clarity one at a time or all inclusive?

She Was Drowning In Problems And Didn’t Know How To Pray

The third chapter of my first book, God is All, opens with the story of Alice Ross. Her cheating husband left her with two sick children and a sister strung out on drugs. She’s unemployed and about to lose her home. Her friends tell her, “Don’t worry, just pray about it,” but Alice doesn’t know where to start. She thinks to herself, “I have so many problems, I don’t know what to pray about first.”

Many people seem to be in Alice’s situation. There are so many problems; they don’t know where to start. When they focus their prayers on one situation, the others get worse. In faith, they soldier on, but it seems like a losing battle.

How do you solve this problem? How do you pray when it appears you are drowning in problems?

Don’t Pray About The Wrong Problem

Years ago, I was working on a challenging piece by Chopin. The fingers must move up and down the keyboard at a dizzying speed. There were many challenging sections. I thought the problems were a weak fourth finger, lack of finger independence, and a lazy thumb. I worked for weeks on these problems, but nothing improved.

Frustrated, I sat down at the keyboard to examine my approach more carefully. I made a startling discovery. I had only one problem – wrist rotation. Once I corrected that, I was flying up and down the keyboard faster than a cheetah chasing a gazelle.

The point of this story is that in every case where it seems like you have many problems, you have only one. When you correct the one, you resolve them all. The problem, obviously, is not wrist rotation, but it is THE BARBARIC BELIEF THAT THERE IS A PRESENCE AND POWER OTHER THAN GOD.

When you think you are drowning in a sea of problems, there is only one problem – the belief that there is another presence, power, or activity other than God. Do you want to handle all of your problems with a single prayer? Pray to discern God’s Presence as the entirety of your Life.

Prayer That Gets To The Root Of The Problem

Your prayer could look like this (using your own words, of course): “God let me discern your Presence in and as every area of ‘my’ Life.” You can shorten this by praying, “God, all I want is you. Reveal Thyself.” Just be mindful that you are not addressing a God outside of you.

Never mind the seeming dualism in this prayer. That will be handled with the realization of God’s Presence. Now you may be wondering how often to pray this prayer. The answer is simple: until God reveals Itself in a clear and unmistakable way.

The first time you try this and your problems are resolved, you’ll probably think, “It’s like magic. I didn’t even have to think about my problems and they all disappeared.” From then on, you’ll never have to worry about how many problems you seem to have. All that matters is a clear realization that God is All.