Pilgrimage into Prayer

My pilgrimage into Prayer

Prayer has been a very significant part of my life. To me is a form of communication between my Father in heaven and me. I pray all through out the day. My favorite time to pray is while washing dishes. I look outside the window and begin to talk to God, thanking him for the blessings in my life. If someone's name comes into my mind, I pray for that person that God will help them if they are in need of help or just keep them safe and or draw them closer to him.

I do not have a set time or a regular time for prayer time. I prefer sometimes to spend time in prayer as early in my day as possible. But being a wife and mother of two, makes it hard at times to dedicate my first hour of the day to God.

11 years ago in 1998, I purchased a journal to write down my moments with God. It was sort of a diary. I will talk to God and wait for a response. I wrote a few times in the journal after that date that I purchased it. Whenever I had a prayer request or praise, I will write it down in my journal. It also helped me to vent out my feeling regarding my husband. I still have my journals up in the attic. I take them out, read them and look back on how my life was back then when I wrote in them. I have changed in so many ways since those days. At that time I was not attending church regularly. I was Catholic by tradition and not by conversion. My faith as a Catholic was cold, and I was seeking for something more.

My entire family is Catholic by tradition. What I mean is that they do not live their faith as they should. Their priorities are everthing else, excluding God from their lives and only seeking him when they are in need. I wanted God to be in my life at every moment. And wanted my family to get closer to God. I ask God to lead me to a place where I would get closer to him. After years of praying , he led me to a Christian Church in February of 2004.

I felt God' presence and closer to Him while attending that church. I learned from the Pastor's wife how to have daily quiet time with God, keeping a prayer journal. She said to write down a short prayer, what ever was in my mind at the moment. Then to read a chapter in my bible starting in the book of Psalms. After reading the chapter, to choose a verse that spoke to me and then write a prayer in my own words regarding that verse.

I did this daily, Read all of Psalms and Proverbs. Doing this helped me amazingly in my daily activities. It helped me to not be stressed or worried. It improve my relationship with my husband. It helped me to be more patient with my children. Spending quiet time in prayer and reading the scriptures help me in many ways. Somehow it helped me keep focused in my daily chores and I was able to cope with the problems with a positive mindset.

On those days, that I will forget my quiet time with God, or I was to busy to spend time with the Lord in prayer, my day was not the same. I will be irritable and get mad at my husband easily, and get frustrated with my children. Then, I will remember that I had not had my quiet time with God. Since than I made it a priority in my life to at least say a short morning prayer on those days, I was not able to spend time reading the bible. Or if I forgot and things got chaotic, to stop, and say a short prayer again.

I am no longer attending the Christian Church. Somehow, God called me back into the Catholic Faith in 2008. My Mom and sisters where praying that I will return. There where many things that I did not agree with the Catholic faith. It has taken me, a while to understand things, and see that my perception or knowledge of the Catholic Church was wrong. I been quite rebellious at times. But prayer and quiet time with God, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, has helped me to see God's plan in my life. He was preparing me for the plans he has in my life. I just pray, that I listen carefully to his guidance.

Thomas Morton Prayer

" My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone."