The Power of Prayer

This may surprise some people, but I don’t pray to God.  Oh, sure, like most of us, if I get in a bind, I instinctively call out, “Oh, God! Help me!” But my understanding of God is not a man in the clouds who doles out favors to those who are deserving.  To me, “God”… the Great Spirit, the Source, the All That Is … “Ultimacy” cannot be anything so limited.  To my understanding, all of creation, including us, is an expression of this Ultimacy.  To me, the All That Is, is not someone I pray TO, but an indescribable, all-pervasive, all-loving Force of which I am so grateful to be aware.

So when I need help with something, instead of praying to God, I call on my Team, with a capital T.  That Team includes my beloved Sanaya, who gives me and many others daily encouragement and lessons in being the best soul-in-human-form we can be.  My Team also includes the spirits who have the not-so-easy job of keeping me out of trouble, putting thoughts in my head, nudges in my gut, and guiding me from moment to moment in every aspect of my life.  And of course, my Team also includes my step-daughter, Susan, who has let me know with irrefutable evidence that her death was merely a transition to a new chapter in her soul’s eternal life.

I talk to my Team each morning in meditation and at frequent moments throughout the day.  We chat in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep.  I don’t always ask them for favors.  I know I’m here to figure things out for myself if I want to do well in Earth-school.  But when I’m stuck and need extra assistance, that’s when I pray, “Okay, Team, please help me out here.”  I pray this way knowing that we humans don’t always have the Big Picture.  I know that for this reason, not all prayers are answered, but that I will receive help from my Team if doing so will serve the greater good.

One of my prayers was answered a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t realize at the time that I was being set-up by my Team.  I awoke in the wee hours of the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep.  Why?  Because my guides were issuing very clear instructions about a Good Vibe Video they wanted me to produce.  “Really?  You’re giving me this at 2 AM?” I thought silently, so as not to awaken Ty.  The early hour didn’t seem to matter to them as I wrote down their specific instructions in the dark:  “You will discuss your struggle with hot flashes and share how you turned this affliction into an opportunity for practicing mindfulness.”

“Are you serious?” I asked.  “You want me to go public with my hot flashes?”

My team was relentless.  “You will buy 3 lemons.  You will make a glass of lemonade.  You will discuss turning lemons into lemonade when life gives you specific challenges, but you will take this lesson a step further.  The lesson is not about overcoming challenges, but about turning them into opportunities for your soul’s growth.”

I have learned that when their guidance is this clear, I give a cheery, “Aye aye!” and march out smartly.  I bought the lemons. I made the lemonade, and I put what to many is an embarrassing health issue out there for all the world to see.  I explained on camera that I had gone online to research hot flashes, only to discover there is no real cure.  Sigh.

The video came out pretty well, including me getting nice and pink and sweaty right there on camera.  Moments before filming, I had been guided to put on my fulgurite necklace.  I ended up talking about the necklace, completely unplanned from my human level of awareness, and it made the perfect teaching point to tie up the video’s lesson.

“Good Vibe Video #16:  A ‘Flash’ of Insight” received many positive comments.  I was gratified.  It helped to know that I wasn’t alone in my suffering.  And then something unexpected happened.  Several people wrote to suggest remedies that I hadn’t read about online.  One of them (Thank you Barbara R!) stood out like a flashing neon light (pun intended).  I researched the over-the-counter product a little more and felt a strong intuitive nudge to try it.

After only one week of using this product that I found as a result of filming the video, I’m down from hourly “power surges” to two or fewer per day.  And with this unexpected benefit of filming the video came a real flash of insight (the title I was given from my Team to assign to Video #16):  Two weeks earlier I had prayed to my team, “Help me with these hot flashes and other symptoms.”  I had sent the prayer out, and then forgot that I had asked.

Now I see that the 2 AM instructions to “Buy the lemons, make the lemonade …” were given by my Team in answer to those prayers.  Why?  Because I had done my own research into hot flashes and thought there was no cure.

Those with the higher perspective saw I had hit a roadblock.  I wasn’t going to do any more research.  It was time to step in.

I had been using my hot flashes as an hourly mindfulness reminder.  (Feel a hot flash coming on?  Check in with my Team). Well, they say, “Be careful what you ask for,” ’cause now I have to find another reminder.  But honestly, with help like this, I don’t really need one.  I’ve learned to rely on my Team.  God knows we need help in our lives as humans, so I can’t imagine going more than a few hours without checking in.  “Am I doing okay so far today?  How might I do better?”

How about you?  Do you talk to your Team?  Have you acknowledged them lately?  They love it when you do.  Reach out to them often.  If it serves the greater good, your requests will be honored in the most magical ways.  Of course, we have to do our part when we get those nudges we can’t just ignore, like buying lemons when I NEVER make lemonade.  That’s what Teamwork is all about.  It’s a give-and-take, all in service to the All, and it’s all good, because, really, it’s ALL God.