When the Doors Are Open
When your loved ones are in difficulty, suffering from serious illness, tragedy or misfortune, you naturally want desperately to help them. If you are unable to do so, a feeling of utter helplessness comes over you. At such a time your prayers can be of help. Your prayers may not bring direct relief, but when the doors of your heart and mind are opened to God, then He can work in and through you wonders that would not otherwise be possible. May you learn to put your full trust in God, who is able to do for you and your loved ones more that you can ask for.
In times of adversity, many people display weakness. They assume that loss, disappointment or defeat means failure. Actually, misfortune can mean opportunity. Your defeats may be the very means by which you rise to creative levels. You must weave from the circumstances of your life- from your abilities and your insufficiencies, from your courage and your fears, from the strength of your joy and the ache of your pain - the pattern and the texture of a life fulfilled. May you learn to triumph in adversity.

What Prayer Can Do

If you will make a habit of regular prayer your life will be noticeably and profoundly changed. An earnest prayer life will be reflected in tranquility and equanimity of spirit, in greater hope, in greater concern and love for others.

Prayer is the power that can pull you back on to the right track when you get off it; it can turn you from that which is wrong toward that which is right. Prayer can put purpose and meaning into your living. Prayer is the force that can put you in touch with God. May your mind and heart ever be opened to God's spirit.

The Meditations of My Heart,
by Paul S. McElroy,
Peter Pauper Press, Inc. 1972,
used by permission.