# The power of prayer - stories



## shesulsa (Jul 20, 2009)

I noticed that on every single day since July 5, 2009 someone has mentioned the power of prayer to me or near me, even in conversations I wasn't involved in and people who didn't yet know my son was in the hospital.  Of course many have proffered to remember him in prayer for which I am truly grateful.

Today, the nurses who attended my son when he went into respiratory arrest on the 5th and for a day or so after just finally came back on rotation and when they saw me, stopped what they were doing to squeeze me, damp-eyed saying they were amazed that it's the same kid.  None of them thought he'd make this much progress and said they had seen him progress just during their shift today!

When people found out what had happened to John, they began to call and ask permission to put him on the prayer list at church and some even asked if they could ask others in other churches to do the same. I said yes, of course.

Today, I was leaving the hospital and an older gentleman stepped onto the elevator one floor lower than I and we traded the obvious information ("who are you in for?") as we walked to the parking lot. He told me about his great-granddaughter's recovery - an unexpected one. She is 16 years old, is a car accident victim and was in ICU from July 4 - 16. All the attending physicians stand that there should be no way she was able to leave ICU so early.  And, of course, I had to ask him ... with a wry smile on my face, knowing what was coming ... to what he attributed the girl's healing.

"Well, you see, I believe in the power of prayer." I shared with him my son's story and we both half-cried, half-laughed and embraced right then and there. I don't even know his name, but the girl's name is Britny.  We promised to keep each other's ward in our prayers, hugged again and parted ways.

The man was exuberant and I have to admit, his demeanor was catching.

John became altered on the morning of July 5 and tried to fly like Buzz Lightyear off of an interstate overpass.  He fractured his femur and his tibia, shattered his right heel and broke his sacrum.  He also hit his head, evidenced by his broken tooth and facial abrasions.

He lost half of his blood volume and received blood transfusions, totalling four units of donated blood.  He had an extremely difficult time coming out of his first surgery - that to pin his femur and tibia - and went into respiratory arrest.  Though his oxygen saturation was virtually nil, his heart never stopped beating.  He was revived and was put on oxygen.  As he came out of anasthesia, it became apparent he had some kind of neurological issue related to his head.  It took over a week to find out he had a closed head injury including small bleeds on his brain - nonoperative, but worrysome in those first few days.

His pelvis/sacrum was repaired next - his very rare "H" fracture was repaired with three screws and we are all blessed that his fracture was NOT displaced.  He came out of his pelvic surgery better than he went into it and we were MOST relieved.  His heel surgery left him a little altered afterwards, but it's done and he shouldn't require any further surgery ... unless we have missed something.

The thing that speaks volumes to me is the teary-eyed nurses who are simply amazed at his progress since the first five days after his injury were wordless, moaning, convulsing nightmares. He is now able to feed himself, carry on conversation, sit to eat, is independently doing fine motor Occupational therapy exercises I gave him and his PT a lot, can lift his upper body off his bed, push the call button for the nurse, open jello and juice containers, etcetera. If they didn't think he'd be this much better ... why would he be?

I think people pray without realizing it. A friend told me today that when she was a little girl and on into adulthood would always spend a few minutes before sleeping making wishes for people she cared about, knew needed help, etcetera. She realized later, of course, that she had really been praying.  And then there is the manifesting power in confident, positive thought and love sent to people.  There's no question in my mind that prayer and love have had a hand in the healing of my son.  He has a long road to travel but he is living and whole nonetheless.

If you have a story you want to share about the power of prayer, please do.


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## Carol (Jul 20, 2009)

I talked with my sister for awhile tonight.  I love her dearly but we have had a lot of differences.  We were talking for awhile...she and her husband are nearly 50 yet they just adopted four children (!!)

She was asking me how my job was going and I didn't have much other to tell her than "Yup. Still employed for now."

At the end of the conversation, my sister said "Well, you know you always have a place to stay if you need it, right?"

Um...no, I did not know that.  Neither my mom nor my sister has ever made an offer like that to me since I moved out 22 years ago.  I sincerely hope I don't have to take her up on her offer.  And, a house with four kids and no broadband (too rural) would drive me up the wall in about.....a minute. :lol:

But I was absolutely awestruck that she made that offer to me after taking in four school-age children.  If THAT is not the power of prayer, or the power of the Holy Spirit, I don't know what is!


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## Jade Tigress (Jul 20, 2009)

Georgia, first I want to say I am terribly sorry to hear about what happened to John and my heart goes out to you. *hugs* 

I do believe in the power of prayer and I pray all the time. I remember years ago we were very short on money. The bedroom set we had had a platform base so there was no boxspring, just a mattress on top. The mattress was about 10 years old by this time and every single night I would toss and turn because my back would be absolutely killing me all night and I'd walk around hurting the next day.

I couldn't take it anymore. I needed sleep, I needed my back to stop hurting. There was no way we could afford a new mattress at that time. One night, I laid in bed practically in tears and asked God for a new mattress.

The _very next day_ my husbands uncle called us. He was remodeling his summer house which happened to be located within 25 miles of us. He had a guestroom that was never used with a _brand new_ queen size mattress _and_ box spring on the bed. He wanted to get rid of it and wanted to know if wanted them. We went that day and picked them up, ended up putting the box spring on top of the platform too. 

The mattress was perfect, firm, I got the best sleep ever that night. No more back pain from sleeping from that night forward. We kept that bedroom set up until 3 years ago when we passed it along to our niece, with the mattresses still in great shape.


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## JadecloudAlchemist (Jul 20, 2009)

Shesulsa

I added my prayers to John as well. I think thoughts are energy and in some way has an effect on those who we send that energy to. Faith is a strong bond and when combined with love it is a powerful force. 

I pray when ever I see misfortune people and when ever I see dead animals or grave stones on top of my morning,afternoon and evening prayer. What goes thru my mind is if you can not help someone who is suffering or in need at least offer a prayer that their suffering lessens or ends.


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## JDenver (Jul 20, 2009)

I don't have a prayer story, but believe in it.

I also think of it as energy, one that acts like a gravity.  I have many many stories of being lost in particular thought and having people, sometimes total strangers, say something to me that sits with what I was just thinking.

I'll be thinking of your son though-----thanks for the thread..........
jre


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## Empty Hands (Jul 20, 2009)

I'm very glad your son is OK.  How horrible that must have been.

I won't say what I normally would about prayer in respect for that.


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## Flea (Jul 20, 2009)

Shesulsa,

John is a very blessed young man to be surrounded with that much love and care.  I hope his trajectory continues toward a full recovery.  I'm confident it will.

Personally I'm a big believer that we direct certain energies in the Universe through our thoughts and expectations.  Both for positive and negative purposes.  Prayer is just one form of that, a more formalized and intentional approach.  And there are many different forms of prayer too, from formal mantras, to meditation, to magick and shamanism.  My personal favorite is compassion-meditation.

With your permission, tonight I will direct some compassion tibetan buddhist style, in John's direction.  :ultracool  I know a few others who could use it too.  I'm overdue for a good sit.


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## shesulsa (Jul 25, 2009)

Flea said:


> Shesulsa,
> 
> John is a very blessed young man to be surrounded with that much love and care.  I hope his trajectory continues toward a full recovery.  I'm confident it will.
> 
> ...



Thank you.  :asian:


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## Flea (Jul 26, 2009)

How is he doing, shug?


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## Tames D (Jul 26, 2009)

Georgia,

I find myself thinking about you and John alot lately. Our sons and their situations are something we have in common. If you need to talk, I'm here.

Love ya,
Tim


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## shesulsa (Jul 26, 2009)

John is doing famously! He is able now to sit in a wheelchair and wheels himself around the halls of the eighth floor until they get tired of him and put him back in his room.  He's a good patient, apparently, and hasn't been giving the hospital any trouble.

He was *VERY* near death and we are *MOST BLESSED* that he is alive.

Fortunately, the state and federal governments are paying attention now and it looks like his services are going to kick in very shortly.  It's about darned time.

For those of you on Facebook, I post updates regularly under my real name - you can also follow me on Twitter (see profile or the link below). I'm better at updating Facebook because the status allows more characters.  

There are pictures on Facebook too.

Thank all of you here who wished us well, thought positively about our situation, meditated, sent light and healing energy (yes, we felt it), and prayed. My whole family needed it, still needs it and my son has reaped the benefits of your love and/or consideration.  :asian:

If you have a positive story about the power of prayer - or positive thought, or anything - please feel free to share.


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## David43515 (Jul 26, 2009)

I`ve had so many experiances with the power of prayer (even before I knew who or what I was praying to) that I wouldn`t know where to start. Most of them were small things, or very personal, but that doesn`t lessen thier impact in my life.

        God, the universe, energy and good intention....no matter what you call it I don`t think you can honestly deny it has a real influence. I`m reminded of something a friend pointed out once long ago. He asked me if I knew what the most often repeated commandment in the Bible was. I thought about it for a moment and had to admit I didn`t. "Ask." he said "We`re told to ask for what we need and ask what we want more often than we`re told to do anything else." Interesting, huh?


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## Flea (Jul 27, 2009)

> If you have a positive story about the power of prayer - or positive thought, or anything - please feel free to share.



After hearing John's story it seemed a little crass to prattle on about myself and my own little drama, but if you really want to hear it, then okay.  It's a good one anyway.  

As my sense of urgency increased about my needing to move and I had so much trouble getting organized and focused, I sent out a call for help to the Higher Plane.  My own path is largely animist, so I went to a park in the neighborhood I want to move to.  I brought a very specific letter detailing exactly what I needed in my new home and why, and I ceremonially burned it and scattered the ashes with a humble request to the Spirit Of The Place to open its doors and let me in.  Then I got takeout at my favorite restaurant there and came back to the park with an offering of said favorite meal.

It worked, almost frighteningly well.  I've detailed some of it in my "I'm selling the condo" thread.  Just a couple weeks later a part of me relaxed and saw the obvious path to the business side of the move.  My friend told me about a non-profit that helps homeowners and buyers to make sound decisions concerning property, and my timing in enrolling helped me to whip through the program at record speed. The first house I looked at is still by far the best (I've seen five now, all in the space of a week.  Realtors are desperate these days.)

It isn't the exact neighborhood I wanted, but it borders it, and it was my second choice anyway.  This is a target neighborhood for a federal grant program helping low-income folk to buy, with a free 20% down payment.  I have a little more homework to do on the quality of life there, but so far I've been very pleased.  So all that remains now is the mortgage application, during which I'll find out if I qualify for the grant.  

At this point I'm letting go of my habitual control-freak tendencies; if I get the grant, so be it.  If not?  The Divine has some better idea.  After the dizzying speed at which my original request was granted, I have no doubts that I'm in good caring hands on this.  In fact, this has been going so well that I said another prayer this weekend to please _slow down_.  I'm getting exhausted!  I don't think I've ever had a more effective prayer in my life.  If I were just asking for something trivial, or something major just for fun, I don't think it would have come through like this.  I think that the Divine knows what we really need, and is selective.  Sometimes I forget that, but this has been a powerful reminder.

All the same, Shesulsa, I don't think it holds a candle to John's recovery.


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## shesulsa (Jul 27, 2009)

I think it's a mistake to compare severity of struggle, for we all have our place here and all have our challenges as are required of us.  Those who don't ever have to face this kind of tragedy are not lesser people than those of us who do; those who can muddle through by their bloody fingers are no stronger warrior than anyone else.

Your challenge is perfect for you right now and struggles are struggles ... and as a new dear friend has said to me recently, faith is not believing ... faith is KNOWing.  Whatever that means psychologically or psychically or whatever, the power of prayer has been proven (scientifically) to be more effectual in healing than the placebo effect ... which is, indeed, a powerful tool.

And I too believe we can't know what the Divine has in store for us.


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## OnlyAnEgg (Mar 26, 2010)

I recall, a few years ago, after my wife and I split, I was beating myself up something awful over the whole thing (in point of fact, she left me to return to her ex).  My pastor, at the time, and I would sit and talk about it once or twice a week, for a while there.  He listened relentlessly to my self-doubt and recrimination.  Finally, one day, he said that losing someone is like having an arm tipped off.  I don't remember the exact conversation; but, those were his words and they stuck with me.

I prayed a lot about this issue of mine and this stump of an arm I metaphorically had; I prayed for weeks for some kind of ease, some peace over this anguish.  You know how creators can be, sometimes...not so talkative.

One day, driving home from work, I almost drove off the road after seeing a sign off to the side.  'Larry's Stump Grinding Service', it said.  If only it were that simple, I thought; and, in that moment it flashed on me, I realized I'd been grinding my own stump, as it were.  That second, that very second, heading for the berm, I felt the peace I needed to move on.

After a few moments reflection, I headed towards home.

Not so talkative, indeed; but, when they talk!


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## pmosiun1 (Mar 30, 2010)

Cool story.


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## Bruno@MT (Mar 30, 2010)

.


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