Something I’ve wondered about for a long time is the topic of prayer. Over the past 30+ years, I’ve been told lots about prayer itself: the importance of it, how to do it, how not to do it, who to pray to, etc. Sometimes I think I actually pray a lot, although most of my prayers in the last year or two pretty much bounced back and forth between, “God, where are you?” and “God, please help me!”. What I am truly curious about at this point in my life is the experience of prayer and how that can bring me closer to God, and how it might or might not change things.

Back in my college days, I once drove the three hours from home to school very late at night, alone. I don’t remember the circumstances except that I was exhausted, had a backseat full of clean laundry, and knew everyone would be asleep when I arrived. Since I was getting back so late, there wasn’t going to be any parking within a quarter mile of my house either. As I made the last leg of the journey, I tried to solve the problem of how I was going to find parking and carry all my stuff inside. I threw up a prayer: “God, please help me find parking!” Wouldn’t you know, there was a parking spot right outside my door when I got there?! This was the first time I noticed God answering my prayer, and I was quite surprised, to tell you the truth. It was such a small, unimportant thing, and I honestly didn’t think God would bother to answer, but I was so thankful and moved in that moment, it brought tears to my eyes.

Fast forward to this summer. If you read my last post, you may have an idea about some of my goals and such. One of them centers around prayer, because I do not understand it. There is a longing in me for intimacy with God, to see that he cares about the base details of my life, and a curiosity in me to see what will happen if I start to pray more. This summer I cried out to God with a prayer, “Please let me see you working; please let me see that you’re answering my prayers-that you hear me!”

This weekend, Beautycounter hosted their annual LEAD conference, which was located here in my hometown. I decided to attend, even though I didn’t know anyone who would be there. I had quite a bit of insecurity surrounding this, so as I was driving to the conference, I prayed, “God, please let me make a friend while I’m there.” That evening, I walked into the balcony looking for a seat, noticed a few open spaces, and started to ask the woman nearby if she was saving them for anyone. She turned around and my jaw about hit the floor. Not only did I know her, but she was a mom of a girl in my daughter’s class at school, and I had already connected with her on a previous occasion! I knew right away it was the kindness of God in answer to my small prayer. But there’s more.

Over the course of the weekend, I found myself standing in lines, chatting with other women as we waited. Through this, I met two other lovely people that I feel were also an answer to my prayer. One, a beautiful woman from my home state of Nebraska (also a mom and teacher!), and another like-minded woman who lives within biking distance of me! I feel so grateful that God not only answered my prayer for a friend to sit with at the conference, but for connections in this business that will go beyond the weekend, which might have also been an answer to my deeper and unspoken prayer for a friend.

How about you? What has your experience with prayer looked like?