{"id":1411,"date":"2014-10-25T19:03:19","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T19:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1411"},"modified":"2014-10-19T19:08:48","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T19:08:48","slug":"a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html","title":{"rendered":"A Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of koratmember\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our hands are so very expressive! In our daily lives, our hands lifty, carry, work, and play. They soothe the aches of others, and they keep the beat during a particularly lively song.<\/p>\n

Have you ever thought about how those same hands can help make your prayer more powerful?<\/p>\n

You can punctuate your obedience to God by folding your hands and keeping them in your lap. You can put an emphasis on your praise by raising your hands high, to Heaven.<\/p>\n

Your hands can be held palms up, to show you are ready to accept the abundant blessings and Word of God.<\/p>\n

You can clasp another’s hands, to increase your feeling of fellowship and the strength that flows from it.<\/p>\n

Above all, don’t sit on your hands when you pray! Use them to enhance those prayers in your heart. Heart and hands – lifted and open!<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our hands are so very expressive! In our daily lives, our hands lifty, carry, work, and play. They soothe the aches of others, and they keep the beat during a particularly lively song. Have you ever thought about how those same hands can help make your prayer more powerful? You can punctuate your obedience to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,3,360,43,1236],"tags":[1313,1314,96,1312,223],"class_list":["post-1411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-prayer-2","tag-lifting-our-prayers","tag-praise-prayer","tag-prayer","tag-prayer-with-our-hands","tag-praying"],"yoast_head":"\nA Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our hands are so very expressive! In our daily lives, our hands lifty, carry, work, and play. They soothe the aches of others, and they keep the beat during a particularly lively song. Have you ever thought about how those same hands can help make your prayer more powerful? You can punctuate your obedience to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-25T19:03:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-19T19:08:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/10\/violinist-jumping-by-koratmember-193x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Our hands are so very expressive! In our daily lives, our hands lifty, carry, work, and play. They soothe the aches of others, and they keep the beat during a particularly lively song. Have you ever thought about how those same hands can help make your prayer more powerful? You can punctuate your obedience to…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2014-10-25T19:03:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-19T19:08:48+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/10\/violinist-jumping-by-koratmember-193x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html","name":"A Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/10\/violinist-jumping-by-koratmember-193x300.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-25T19:03:19+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-19T19:08:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/10\/violinist-jumping-by-koratmember-193x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/10\/violinist-jumping-by-koratmember-193x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/10\/a-praying-spirit-what-do-you-do-with-your-hands.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Praying Spirit: What do you do with your hands?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}