{"id":1655,"date":"2015-05-09T18:07:38","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T18:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1655"},"modified":"2015-05-06T18:14:21","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T18:14:21","slug":"a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html","title":{"rendered":"A Praying Spirit: Praying Sound-ly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>I’ve lived and traveled abroad, and one of the things that always made me laugh was when someone would try to communicate with someone else who did not speak his or her language. Instead of trying to use sign language or find an interpreter, often the person trying to communicate would just use the same words, only speaking more loudly. Or, sometimes yelling!<\/p>\n

As if by raising the volume would change make the message come through clearer!<\/p>\n

Of course, it seld0m, if ever, did.<\/p>\n

We sometimes do the same thing, though, when we pray, especially if our prayers have not yet been answered as we think they should be. Instead of trying to see God’s way and will in a particular situation, we might get “stuck” on the same supplication from our end, only praying the same thing louder and longer, believing that at some point, God will answer our way.<\/p>\n

Think about the prayers you lift up this week. Think about to whom you are praying, not to a reflection of yourself, who agrees fully with everything you are asking for, but to God, who knows what is best for you – and that best might not be exactly what you think it should be.<\/p>\n

By praying sound-ly, and not loudly, we can better communicate with and hear God.<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

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

I’ve lived and traveled abroad, and one of the things that always made me laugh was when someone would try to communicate with someone else who did not speak his or her language. Instead of trying to use sign language or find an interpreter, often the person trying to communicate would just use the same…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,43,1047,578,1236,95,1246],"tags":[1238,1697,1696,96,1695,1698],"class_list":["post-1655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-encouragement-in-life","category-good","category-goodness","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","category-uplifting","tag-a-praying-spirit","tag-communicating-with-god","tag-hearing-god","tag-prayer","tag-praying-soundly","tag-what-we-want-in-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nA Praying Spirit: Praying Sound-ly - 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\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.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: Praying Sound-ly - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I’ve lived and traveled abroad, and one of the things that always made me laugh was when someone would try to communicate with someone else who did not speak his or her language. Instead of trying to use sign language or find an interpreter, often the person trying to communicate would just use the same…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-09T18:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-06T18:14:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic3-246x300.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: Praying Sound-ly - 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\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Praying Spirit: Praying Sound-ly - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"I’ve lived and traveled abroad, and one of the things that always made me laugh was when someone would try to communicate with someone else who did not speak his or her language. Instead of trying to use sign language or find an interpreter, often the person trying to communicate would just use the same…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2015-05-09T18:07:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-05-06T18:14:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic3-246x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html","name":"A Praying Spirit: Praying Sound-ly - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic3-246x300.jpg","datePublished":"2015-05-09T18:07:38+00:00","dateModified":"2015-05-06T18:14:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic3-246x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/04\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic3-246x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/05\/a-praying-spirit-praying-sound-ly.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Praying Spirit: Praying Sound-ly"}]},{"@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\/1655","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=1655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1656,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions\/1656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}