Are you sure?
This bookmark will be removed from all folders and any saved notes will be permanently removed.
Prayer and the weather
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
I was seven years old and out on the veranda of my grandmother's home, about a mile from my father’s farm. For several days, my father had been saying that the corn and soybeans really needed a good rain. So when I saw a rain cloud just a few miles away, I decided to pray for the cloud to come to our farm and give us the rain we so needed. As I fervently prayed, I watched the cloud move away in the opposite direction.
This wasn’t what I’d expected, and I was filled with self-pity and even doubt for a while. Much later in life, I realized that this incident was actually a good lesson in how not to pray. Deciding on a particular outcome and then praying to God to bring it about isn’t really prayer—it’s an attempt to use God rather than to humbly accept God's will.
Sometimes people think God’s will is to deprive them of good or happiness. But the fact is that God’s will for us is always good and will bring true fulfillment to our lives.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
