Exporter:
I have been praying, lighting candles and I am going out at night to pray for about two months for one of my grand daughters. I am praying for something she Can Do but she is not doing it.
I have asked Our Lady to pray for her. I have asked Our Lord Jesus to help her. I asked the Holy Spirit and I asked God the Father also. And still it seems there is no answer to my prayers.
Exporter, thank you for being a prayer warrior for your grand daughters. :clapping:
I had to learn the hard way to look at the fruit being produced from my own prayer intentions. How? Well, I would evaluate how I would discuss the situation to someone else. Would my conversation lead that other individual closer to God or father away? I quickly learned my conversations were full of pride, selfishness, hopelessness, mistrust, negativity and even lies.
- pride - I did this, I did that
- selfishness - only praying for my loved ones
- hopelessness - the situation will never change
- mistrust - God is not listening
- negativity - no, not, never
- lies - God does not answer my prayers
I noticed that I spent my time trying to get from God what I wanted and not what He wanted. I held on so tightly to my narrowly defined situation that I was blocking the God’s grace from flowing freely. Ouch! It was like “look what I am doing to convert my family.” I did not take this well. Even though I was doing good deeds my motives kept me on the other side of the fence with no good fruit.
What to do?
I needed a change of heart. I quit praying for my loved one.
Yes, I said I quit praying for my loved ones. Let me explain. I actually didn’t quite praying for my loved ones, God showed me to change my prayer to a prayer of trust. Anytime I felt those negative (fruitless) emotions I surrendered that prayer (persons) to Our Lord. I gave my burden to Jesus.
ex. “Jesus I see I am worried about this person, I place that worry and all of my concerns to You. You take them. I don’t want them.” I kept my focus on Jesus and not the petition.
I also realized my prayer intentions were focussed only on my loved ones. Therefore, I changed my intentions to include everybody with that particular need. Instead of mentioning my loved ones, I adopted someone else in the same situation. This really helped my anxiety. I entrusted my family and their needs to God, not forgetting Our Mother. My amount of prayer time actually grew because I was receiving more fruit. My petitions grew in scope, but were not the focus of my prayer. My focus was praising, thanking, loving, adoring and contemplating God.
Now I understand what St. Pio meant when he said,
"Pray, hope and don’t worry."
I hope I was not harsh. Please ask questions to help clarify my mess.
God