Strength from Heaven

From today's Fast Pray Give calendar on bustedhalo.com:

I believe in prayer. It’s the best way we have to draw strength from heaven.
— Josephine Baker

Not sure what I can add to that.

I'm not always sure how to pray. I've never been one to fall on my knees; I usually pray when I lie down in bed at night. And I usually fall asleep. I'd like to make more time for conscious, wakeful prayer; I'll need to work at that. But I am in the habit of offering quick prayers for people who need it throughout my day; I do believe that means something.

I believe prayer works; I believe I've seen it work in my own life and in the lives of my friends and family. When my father was first diagnosed with lung cancer, his friend, the late, great Bob Sheppard (longtime PA announcer of the New York Yankees—aka the "Voice of God"), added his name to the Yankees' prayer list. It was comforting (and kind of cool) to know that guys like Andy Pettitte and Scott Brosius (and Paul O'Neill, I liked to imagine) were praying for his recovery. At the same time, he started receiving little angels in the mail—an old friend had added him to some kind of angels network, and people all over the country were sending these tokens to him, to let him know they were praying for him. Another friend of my mom's told us that she would meditate about my father's lung tumor, visualizing that it would grow smaller and smaller.

My father's tumor did shrink substantially—almost to nothing. Almost. He enjoyed about a year and a half of healthy time during which he saw a new grandchild born and spent time with the two he already knew. He fished with my brother, traveled with my mother and visited old friends. He brought us together as a family in a new way. And then he got sick again.

The avalanche of prayers for my father didn't create the kind of miracle you read about. But I do think the last 18 months of his life were miraculous. And I know that the strength he needed—that we all needed—to get through it had to come from somewhere.

Tomorrow I will make time to consciously pray for three friends, in particular, who I know could use some strength from heaven.