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I know some people do not believe in prayer. They think that their prayers were not answered, so what is the use in praying?

I think differently than this. I believe in miracles. I know that God is not always able to answer our prayers or perform a miracle, but he is able to help us get through our difficulties in life and that is the focus of most of my prayers. I do not understand why I have ALS, but I do not believe that it was God’s will that I would have this disease. I do believe in miracles, as I said, but I do not think any of us will understand during this life, why some miracles that we pray for happen and some do not. I believe when our life is changed in a dramatic way that God looks at us and says “Well, I now have another job for you. Something that will work with the situation that you are in now.”

Speaking of jobs, when I was going to college for sales and marketing, I was taught to always be productive at whatever you were trying to accomplish in your work day. That meant that even when I wasn’t making sales calls, I should be thinking about who to call on next and maybe doing some research about that company. I was selling advertising, and you really had to know your client. Some people wanted a lot of information, some people didn’t, they just wanted to know the price. I have learned that being productive in whatever I am trying to do is important to me, but sometimes in life we feel like there are days where all we do is waste time. I am talking about the days that we spend waiting to talk to the right person on the phone. Sometimes it seems like you are put on hold for hours when it is only 20 minutes. There are days that we wait in long lines when we are in a store or at a place that we have to do our banking. There are times that we wait in doctors offices or when we have young children, we wait for them to finish their lessons or their sports activities.

We also spend time waiting at stoplights. There seems to be a lot of time that we can easily become annoyed with waiting. That is why I use this time to pray. I think of who God wants me to pray for and usually three or four names will pop into my head.

When I am at one of these waiting times in my life, I pray for these people. I pray for whatever problems they may have. Sometimes prayers of gratitude are the first things that come to mind. I am often so grateful for the wonderful people in my life who help me with all the things I need help with.

But, praying for people is something I feel is very productive. It gives us a sense of well-being to know that we are doing something positive for someone else. It makes me feel like I am not wasting any time during my day, even when I have to wait. So, give it a try. Maybe it will be something that becomes a habit for you too.