Originally Posted by
redatlanta 
Over the years I came to realize that I was thinking and praying all wrong, so my relationship with God was wrong. As to why bad things happen I concluded that I don't need to know why bad things happen, any more than I need to delve into why good things happen which no one ever questions, but is the same question. We are given free will to live which is a gift; therefore, the Yin and Yang is that both good and bad things will happen in our lives and the lives of others.
As for prayer and praying for needs - I stopped praying for specific needs to be met. I just don't think it works that way. I think its more like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when the good witch tells her she always had the power to go home she just didn't know it. I believe we all have the power within ourselves to accomplish and survive what needs to be done. Now I pray for guidance rather than to wake up and everything be fixed (though I still fall into that pattern at times and have in the past year). I believe that God is gracious in giving us a fairly clear road map and signs of what we should be doing. The more we hand that over to him and open up to faith the better our lives become.
I had every sign in the world that my business partner needed to go pretty early in. I ignored it and tried to manage it. I prayed that God would fix it. God couldn't fix my business partner because he has free will to live his life however he chooses. What God did do is reveal to me what was happening. This cycle of praying for my business partner to change (and he got worse) only made me angry. I should have been praying for guidance toward accomplishment. Business partner was the problem in achieving it and God showed me that every-single-day, I just chose to ignore it.
^ This. I learned that ~for myself~ I wasn't connecting with the idea of God for many reasons.... one being raised with crazy religious hypocrisy within my own extended family (incredibly confusing, "do as I say not as I do" type of BS) and another being that I was asking for all the wrong things. I was expecting miracles & when those miracles didn't arrive I just felt let down... and there's only so many times I'll keep going to a dry fountain before I look for another source of water. My prayers now are more in line with Red's - I pray for the wisdom to see the signs in my path, I pray for the greatest good to occur within a situation, even if it doesn't seem like the *right* answer to me at the time. That means I have to have faith that *I* don't always know what's right for every person/situation, including myself at times.
A 3rd reason was that I never found COMFORT in religion in the way that I think people should, the way that those that DO have blind faith find for themselves inside their belief system. I felt measured & judged, not comforted. When I expanded my view of religion to include all things spiritual I sorta found comfort in the chaos & freedom in the creative ways it opened me up to express myself spiritually. That there can be no single right answer, that we are all just scurrying across this planet trying to make the best of each day, not knowing how much time we have to enjoy it... and as long as we are doing it peaceably, I don't care how we individually find that peace.
Seriously, The Shack! It isn't earth-shattering but it may shift your perception here by just 1 degree, and sometimes that's all you need to start that domino effect that creates change in your POV. As always, just my $.02. Again.
