Lord, Teach Me To Pray: We All Begin Somewhere
Prayer has been an important part of my life since I was a little girl. Maybe it was my Lutheran Sunday school experiences that taught me to pray or perhaps it was my confirmation classes. Regardless of the initial source, I developed a heart to pray in my early years. At night I could not go to sleep until I said the Our Father, as well as my childhood prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Matthew 6: 9-15 (KJV) Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.
My teenage years became more stressful through a variety of circumstances and I remember praying even more. As I have shared before, my mother died of a brain tumor in my early teens and I became responsible to help my father raise my siblings. It was a daunting task as I cooked, cleaned, cared for my siblings, and still continued to attend school and participate in extracurricular activities.
As the saying goes, I had a lot on my plate at that time! My prayers turned to discussions and intimate talks with the Lord, asking Him as my Father how to manage the situations I faced and how to make it through the challenging times before me. My relationship grew significantly as I learned that prayer was a communication system between God and me.
Psalm 27: 7-8 (NKJV) says, “Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When You said, Seek My face, My heart said to You, Your face, Lord, will I seek.”
In those years I needed to know that God could hear me and would help me. Often on the way to school I would seek the Lord’s counsel. Psalm 5: 3 (NIV) encouraged me with these words, “In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation.”
When I was a child my prayer time was so simple. I just talked to God, I obeyed His voice, and I would be at peace. God was in control and everything about God seemed simple. But as I grew and my life became more difficult, the simplicity of my daily experiences turned into disappointments, unanswered prayer, and painful memories. Things became so much more complicated and I diligently searched for new ways to pray or for other people to pray for me.
Most certainly, prayer is a continual journey with God through both time and space. Our circumstances and challenges help to direct us to Him to develop greater communication and intimacy with Him. Regardless of my age, I have found Him to be ever faithful in guiding my life’s path!
Dr. Sharon Predovich
