{"id":516,"date":"2013-02-26T23:03:13","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T23:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=516"},"modified":"2013-02-24T23:26:15","modified_gmt":"2013-02-24T23:26:15","slug":"chronic-illness-what-is-successful-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/02\/chronic-illness-what-is-successful-prayer.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: What Is ‘Successful’ Prayer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We do live in a competitive, success-driven society! \u00a0I once heard someone say that she had prayed for a cure for her kidney-involved lupus and her prayer was successful; she believed she was cured completely, lupus-free, although her kidneys were still failing and she eventually needed a transplant.<\/p>\n

The topic of the use of the words “healing” and “cure” within a spiritual, Christian context is the topic for another (perhaps many other) blogs. Here, in the midst of Lent, I’m finding myself musing over another question, “When you have a chronic illness, what is a ‘successful’ prayer?” Is it one where you ask God for a cure and you get it? Or, is it where you ask for a cure, don’t get it, but believe you’re cured anyway? Or, is it something else, something more subtle? \u00a0Or, is there such a thing as a ‘successful’ prayer? \u00a0Or, an ‘unsuccessful’ one, for that matter?<\/p>\n

Although the Apostle Paul spoke of “running the race” to spread the Gospel, I’m inclined to think that there’s more to prayer than it ultimately being successful or not. The act of speaking with God and listening is so much deeper than “ask and get.” Although I think I know what I want, God knows even better; his idea of ‘success’ is probably not mine at all – and I would do well to listen closely to what He wants and what He says instead of anything, in my humanness, I think I want.<\/p>\n

Hmm…perhaps it’s not about success at all, but a process where we become closer to God each time we sit in quiet and pray and listen. And, this might be the most difficult part of practicing true prayer in today’s world. Results, races, and success don’t really apply to coming to the point where we say, “Thy will be done,” and then take up our cross again and walk step-by-step.<\/p>\n

There is strong Scriptural support for the belief that God already knows what we’re going to ask for before we ask for it. Moreover, He has a purpose for each of us, and already knows what that is. \u00a0God loves us, too, so He surely wishes each of us to thrive in the spirit. For Him to work in our lives, I’m finding more and more that it’s not so much the things we ask for and either or or are not granted, but rather our attitude toward God’s eternal listening and presence in our lives – as well as our obedience to accept and follow His will, not matter what.<\/p>\n

By getting away from measuring the success of prayer, we get closer to immeasurable faith!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

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

We do live in a competitive, success-driven society! \u00a0I once heard someone say that she had prayed for a cure for her kidney-involved lupus and her prayer was successful; she believed she was cured completely, lupus-free, although her kidneys were still failing and she eventually needed a transplant. The topic of the use of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,418,95,83],"tags":[222,96,432],"class_list":["post-516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-lent-2013","category-prayers","category-scripture-and-us","tag-cure","tag-prayer","tag-unsuccessful-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: What Is 'Successful' Prayer? - 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\/2013\/02\/chronic-illness-what-is-successful-prayer.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: What Is 'Successful' Prayer? - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We do live in a competitive, success-driven society! \u00a0I once heard someone say that she had prayed for a cure for her kidney-involved lupus and her prayer was successful; she believed she was cured completely, lupus-free, although her kidneys were still failing and she eventually needed a transplant. 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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\/516","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=516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}