Tag Archives: Prayerful

I was a kid once and I could tell prayers were not often said during that phase of my life. I may have said a few because I was told to do so but as I am contemplating on what to write here, I stumbled upon a thought. When did I become prayerful? And how did praying affect my quality of life? I understand how my mother have influenced me to go to church with her every sunday and since I was young I was just there so she has company but one time, it all started to make sense. Praying affects the quality of life of a person. 

Praying, just like any other thing, when done repeatedly can become a habit. And in this modern world, there are only few who humble themselves in prayer and actually make time to converse to God. With hustle culture imploring everyone to do more, people think they might have it all figured out. This kind of living easily burns out people hence affecting their quality of life. At your lowest point, it's easy to turn into prayers but one does not have to wait until they're drained in order to pray. Boelens et al. (2009) had a study on the effects of prayer on depression and anxiety and found that members of a group had lower rates of depression and anxiety and were more optimistic after sessions in which they prayed for one another, compared to the control group (which had no prayer sessions). Rogers (2020) highlighted that praying within a relationship with God that feels loving and supportive may help with managing stress and life’s challenges. Moreover, praying more could be associated with vitality if it keeps the person calm and centered, or with illness if the person prays because he’s sick and worried. 
However, Rogers (2020) also cited that all types of prayer might not work in the same way — when hospitalized patients appraised God as a kind supporter, their mental and physical health improved. But when they perceived God as punishing or were angry with God, their health declined. This shows that perception and faith plays a huge role in how we pray. The way we perceive God in our lives affects our way of praying and our way of living. 

I became prayerful when I witnessed my aunt suffer of breast cancer, how the disease slowly corrupted her and eventually put her to eternal rest. It only took months after she was diagnosed and I was there everyday because she lived next door to us and I saw how life is fleeting and how there is so much love left to show and forgiveness left to give. She was one of the kindest people I know and it pained me to watch her struggle everyday like that because I believe she did not deserve it. Since then I prayed each and everyday for her suffering to be less painful, for us to slowly accept her fate, and for things that might make the days feel lighter. Every day I offered a whisper to God. And when she died, it was so brief and light that to this day, I still could not remember a thing of how it happened. I have no memory how she died that day and how the burial went. When I think of her, she is alive to me that I don't feel the taboo of talking about the dead. And I think that is her legacy to me. That even in her shortest of breath, she left me a lesson I would take with me forever, that prayer heals all hearts and from there love stems to every bit of your wondrousness for a life you are worthy of living.









References: 

Rogers, K. (2020, June 17). The psychological benefits of prayer: What science says about the mind-soul connection. CNN. Retrieved March 8, 2023, from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/health/benefits-of-prayer-wellness/index.html 

Boelens, P. A., Reeves, R. R., Replogle, W. H., & Koenig, H. G. (2009). A Randomized Trial of the Effect of Prayer on Depression and Anxiety. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 39(4), 377–392. https://doi.org/10.2190/pm.39.4.c