For this assignment, I interviewed my mother about her understanding and experience of prayer. The reason I chose my mother is that I love her and I respect what she has to say. She helped me come to know and understand God while growing up, and to this day she still shows me how to live a God-centered life full of helping others. However, I have never gotten to know her spiritually. Before conducting the interview, I let her know that she only has to answer the questions that she feels comfortable with. I also told her that her answers will not only help me write a reflection paper for my class about prayer, but also help me to understand prayer from a new perspective. I started the interview asking fundamental questions, such as “why”, “how”
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I also asked her if she thought there was a proper way to pray. She said that at times, she can be praying to either God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, and other times, she feels that she is praying to all of them, since they are one being. She also said that she does in fact feel the presence of God in her prayers, and she prays with sincerity and a grateful heart. In asking what she thought was the best way to react to unanswered prayer, she responded, “accepting that "in God 's time" is not necessarily in my time; and that everything happens for a reason. Since God is all-knowing, anything I may ask of Him will be answered in ways I may not understand”. She says that having patience, faith and hope is extremely important in prayer. I told her that I agree with her, and we learned something very similar to what she said in class, which is that to be a person of prayer you need to have both desire and commitment, just like any relationship. It reminded me of the analogy we talked about in class, that a relationship with God is standing side by side, looking in the same direction, and beating the same heart. So, if 1 of 2 people in the relationship are only on the receiving end, it will end badly. I’ve come to understand that it’s not about “me” or “I”, it is about “we”. Togetherness is key, and taking the time to ask God what he wants, too, not just what you want is
I also asked her if she thought there was a proper way to pray. She said that at times, she can be praying to either God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, and other times, she feels that she is praying to all of them, since they are one being. She also said that she does in fact feel the presence of God in her prayers, and she prays with sincerity and a grateful heart. In asking what she thought was the best way to react to unanswered prayer, she responded, “accepting that "in God 's time" is not necessarily in my time; and that everything happens for a reason. Since God is all-knowing, anything I may ask of Him will be answered in ways I may not understand”. She says that having patience, faith and hope is extremely important in prayer. I told her that I agree with her, and we learned something very similar to what she said in class, which is that to be a person of prayer you need to have both desire and commitment, just like any relationship. It reminded me of the analogy we talked about in class, that a relationship with God is standing side by side, looking in the same direction, and beating the same heart. So, if 1 of 2 people in the relationship are only on the receiving end, it will end badly. I’ve come to understand that it’s not about “me” or “I”, it is about “we”. Togetherness is key, and taking the time to ask God what he wants, too, not just what you want is