A Little Cheese with that Whine?(Prayer?)

[Militant_Ellen]

I pray constantly,there are not enough hours in the day.The other night while I was praying the thought occured to me that ,I’m whining…I was digusted with myself…I hate whiners … .I asked the Lord,even when I’m not whining.do my "good"prayers help?I guess I was feeling ,like my prayers,pathetic as they are, might be offensive,now I know the Lord loves me,but I’m sort of seeing myself as sort of a whiney pest.(like a nagging six year old asking too many questions!!)
I do always pray for His will and to conform myself and prayers to his will,and to where he deems fit to apply any benefits from my prayers.I need to pray,but I’m going through a "funk"of how my whining could possibly help any soul,nevermind the Lord having to “put up” with my requests.I’ve somehow lost the connection, to me, feeling part of the whole.I have a terrible sorrow for all hurts and pains we as children of God must experience,endure,and survive ,if we can…I have faith,but many hard and fast effects of evil have been slamming me hard in the face.I do talk and ask questions to other people of faith around me.
I feel like I’m praying like a “pagan”,relentless,blah,blah,blah…I will continue to pray …regardless to how I “feel”…(feelings aren’t fact) . Any good “spiritually directed” soul have a simple answer? The big question,…How do my Prayers “help” anything?

 

[True_Believer_1]

Pray, Pray,and Pray some more! God knows your heart and what you wish long before you ever ask or pray for anything. But a good devoted prayer life in never a bad thing. God does hear your prayers and He answers them, not in your time, but in His and not as you wish, but as He commands. Really, who is the better judge of what we need? Us simple mortals who are blinded by our narrow point of view, or God the Almighty who sees and knows all?

Keep the faith! Keep on praying! Know that God loves you!

NOT JUST STRONG…CATHOLIC STRONG!!!

 

[MarieVeronica]

Any good “spiritually directed” soul have a simple answer? The big question,…How do my Prayers “help” anything?

Hi Ellen I don’t claim to be a good “spiritually directed” soul. But I HAVE been given proof of the power of prayer, recently.

My story is very “St. Monica-ish”. lol. We’ve been praying for 30 years… for my younger sister, who fell away from the Church around 1979. Well, this past Easter… she returned! St. Monica, as you may know… was the mother of St. Augustine. And she prayed for his return to the Church for over 30 years. Not only did he return to the Church… but he became one of it’s greatest saints and a Doctor of the Church! Prayer DOES work!

I would suggest, dear soul… that when you pray… do not worry about “whining”. This thought almost surely comes from the enemy (the devil); in an attempt to get us to STOP praying. Our dear Lord Jesus is our very BEST Friend. He cares about what’s happening to us… and about our sorrows. He knows our individual weaknesses, our character flaws and our personalities (I’m a bit prone to complaining in prayer; But He is endlessly patient with me).

Even though He already knows everything that happens in our lives… He waits for us… to tell Him about our day, and about our needs. We eventually get to the point where we share our happiness with Him, as well. Sounds like BEST FRIEND to me!

Hang in there and God bless!

(btw… The title of this thread shows that you have great sense of humor! That’s an awesome gift from God. Many of the saints had wonderful senses of humor).

 

[baltobetsy]

Maybe you need to change up your prayer a little bit. What you describe is a lot of petitions and not much else. Perhaps you could spend some time in praise and adoration, some in thanksgiving, some in contrition.

Or maybe spend some time just listening for what God would like to say to you. Take a spiritual book or the Gospel to prayer with you and read a little until something strikes you and then spend some time pondering it and listening for God.

Either one or both of these should help you feel less whiny.

Betsy