Always Only a Prayer Apart

This simple prayer comforted the writer when she was a nine-year-old homesick camper and it continues to strengthen the bonds between her family members today. I love what it represents. Melinda Mallory of Southlake, Texas, wrote this story for the June 2013 issue of Guideposts magazine.

MY MOTHER’S SCRIPTURAL CURE FOR HOMESICKNESS
A child’s anxiety over being away from home is eased by a special Bible verse

With my kids and husband out for the afternoon, it was a good time to go through the box of things I’d brought home from Mom’s house on my last visit. The old photos made me wish she lived close enough to see every day. I reached into the box and pulled out a scrap of paper.

Is this…? I unfolded it and gasped. “It can’t be!”

Written in faded marker was a verse from Genesis: “The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.”

At once I was nine years old again, watching Mom pack my trunk for summer camp. I’d never been away from home alone for so long before. “Please don’t make me go, Mom!” I cried.

“It will be fun, Melinda,” Mom said. “You’ll make lots of new friends. You can write every day and tell me all the fun things you’re doing.”

I dissolved into tears. Mom gathered me in her arms and rocked me. “I have an idea,” she said. “The two of us can

A Saintly Visit

My friend Judy, who has shared her stories of prayer and healing with me in earlier posts, has been blessed by a number of encounters that can only be described as divine intervention. Here is one such powerful story.

A SAINTLY VISIT

Paramahansa Yogananda (Courtesy of Self-Realization Fellowship, Los Angeles, California)

Having graduated from college Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, I was feeling confident and excited to be accepted into a local nursing school program. I was used to long hours of study, and at the age of twenty-seven had an ample supply of midnight oil to burn.

My first day in Anatomy class, I was shocked and surprised to realize that science was very different from my undergraduate major of liberal arts. On the second day of class, we were given an anatomy test. I got an “F.” Now mind you, I had breezed through years of schooling with straight A’s. To instantly go from academic all-star to embarrassing flop threw me for a huge loop. What if I can’t do this? I thought. What if I can’t make it through?

I had just moved into a new apartment near the school. It seemed like ages ago that my parents and friends had proudly sent me off to conquer the world. In two short days, my confidence and excitement had vanished without a trace. The only thing I felt was terrified.

I sank down on my couch, completely overwhelmed, and inwardly asked God for guidance and reassurance. Hours passed. I continued meditating until a

Back from the Brink

My friend Judy, who shared the story of her friend Rosa’s miraculous healing in an earlier post, has more such stories of divine intervention. This short but powerful story about her friend’s husband’s brush with death offers further evidence of the infinite power of prayer.

BACK FROM THE BRINK

I answered my cell phone one afternoon to hear the voice of my friend Krista sobbing, “Jeff’s just had a heart attack, and they’ve rushed him to the hospital.” Her husband, a top CEO in Seattle, had been in good health. “Please pray for him!” she cried uncontrollably. “I’m really scared.”

This humble, kind man had mentored and guided so many over the years and had helped hundreds of homeless and hopeless people find jobs. I loved him like a brother and Krista like a sister. After she and I had prayed together over the phone, I sat in meditation and asked God to watch over Jeff and bless him. With the loving confidence of a child asking her mother for something she knows is attainable, and with the unwavering conviction that God had complete control over this man’s life, I immersed myself in prayer.

Suddenly, a strong, intuitive feeling told me that Jeff was going to die on the operating table. From the depths of my soul, I silently beseeched God, “NO, NO, NO—don’t take him! Keep this man alive! He has too much to live for. He is not ready to go!” WIthout warning, my intensity and urgency vanished, giving way to serenity and peace.

At the point between the eyebrows, the center of God consciousness, I inwardly saw a

Prayers from a Master

In recognition of the National Day of Prayer, I offer four brief prayers offering comfort and inspiration from the pen of Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi and the founder of Self-Realization Fellowship. These excerpts are from Yogananda’s book, Where There is Light.

O Divine Teacher, let me realize that though the gloom of my ignorance be age-old, with the dawn of Thy light the darkness will

A Saint Helps My Mom Cross Over

This moving story by my friend Judy is both a reminder of the promise and power of prayer and the infinite love and compassion of those to whom we pray. Even when prayer doesn’t seem to be accomplishing anything, the loving energy you transmit may ease the recipient’s pain, comfort their soul, and bolster their strength and resolve.

A SAINT HELPS MY MOM CROSS OVER

“The hospice nurse was just here,” my sister told me over the phone. “She said Mom will probably last another month.” As a public health nurse, I knew that hospice nurses were skilled at recognizing the signs and symptoms of approaching death and predicting how much time a patient had left.

My mom was two thousand miles away in St. Louis and there was nothing I could do to help her. She lay suffering, short of breath and wheezing. She had always told us that she could not handle being “an invalid.” Even the thought of using

Sunny Side Up

This story by my friend, Judy, certainly doesn’t prove the power of prayer, but it does bring three words to mind should you ever wonder during a stressful situation whether you should send up a prayer: It can’t hurt!

SUNNY SIDE UP

A late-night comedy had me riveted to my TV one humid June evening. Through the upper windows of my treehouse cottage, a soft breeze moved through my bedroom. I hadn’t yet put the screens back on so the windows were completely open. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a tail dart quickly by my leg. I wasn’t at all concerned. “Must be the cat,” I mused. Then I realized I don’t have a cat. Or a dog. Or any animal. In horror, I rushed into the kitchen just in time to see a large rat squeezing into a floor hole.

The next morning, hoping not to encounter a rat running over my toes, I apprehensively watched the floor for sudden animal movements as I turned on the burner to make my eggs. Suddenly, I remembered my early morning appointment with Honda for a tune-up. Distracted by thoughts of hungry rats, I glanced at the clock, grabbed my

The (Electric) Power of Prayer

This story by my friend, Judy, illustrates the practical use of devotion and intuition. Prayer is not reserved for only the grandest or most urgent desires in life. We can trust our intuition, which flows from and is an expression of Divine Consciousness, to guide us in even the most mundane of moments.

THE (ELECTRIC) POWER OF PRAYER

With my heavy laundry basket nestled on my hip, I walked out of my small rented cottage and headed for the laundry room fifty yards away. Right before I walked in, my landlord approached me and informed me that the washing machine wasn’t working. Apparently, the electricity had gone out and she and her staff had not yet found the breaker switch to get the washing machine going again. Although she had owned the property for four years, she had never needed to know where the breaker switch was hidden. It was hidden so well, in fact, that they had been searching for it for three days.

Upon hearing the news, the thought came to me, “Lord, you know where the breaker switch is. Show me where to find it!” I placed my laundry on

The Peace and Harmony Prayer

Brother Bhaktananda

Brother Bhaktananda, a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda from 1939 until his passing in 2005, was the minister of the Self-Realization Fellowship Hollywood Temple for thirty-five years. Brother Bhaktananda was well known for recommending the “Peace and Harmony” prayer to anyone wishing to heal a relationship of any kind. Here is the essence of his instructions:

Visualize the person or people who hurt you, and mentally surround them in divine light.

Then deeply pray, “Lord, fill

What Could More Aptly Fit Your Needs?

If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of your life, look within. Why? Three reasons. First, you are being divinely guided in every moment with infinite wisdom and deep love. Second, you are not separate from God. Third, your thoughts create your reality.

Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?
Marcus Aurelius

Blend those three concepts together, and the inescapable conclusion is

The Greatest of Virtues

It is a virtuous circle. The blessing of God’s perfect care naturally elicits gratitude; every expression of gratitude heightens your awareness of God’s presence; the stronger your attunement with divine consciousness, the more you recognize life’s blessings.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Cicero

Nurture your gratitude practice by carrying a gratitude icon—a rock, coin, or other small object—in your pocket. Every time your

A Package You May Not Recognize

Every prayer is answered. Heaven’s response, however, is often misinterpreted because the universe responds to the essence of your request rather than the specifics of it. Therefore, what you asked for may be delivered at a time you may not expect and in a package you may not recognize.

Be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your answers.
William Culbertson

If you pray for a romantic relationship, for instance, perhaps what you truly desire

Your Feeling Is the Prayer

When you ask the universe for something, it’s important that you feel throughout your body—physically and emotionally—every aspect of what you are praying for and visualizing.

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
Plutarch

The unified field—that grid of conscious, living intelligence we call creation—responds far more vigorously

Do Not Pray to God

J. Oliver Black with his guru, Paramahansa Yogananda

I like this nugget of spiritual wisdom from J. Oliver Black, a direct disciple of  Paramahansa Yogananda who lived in Michigan. Yogananda honored Black with the title Yogacharya in a special ceremony of initiation in 1951. The Sanskrit word Yogacharya is an ancient spiritual title that can be translated as “yoga teacher,” although it carries more significance and authority.

In the following one-minute video, Black recalls a suggestion from Yogananda that immediately added more power and energy to

Doors Everywhere

Do you want to see evidence of God’s presence? Open your eyes. Open your mind. Open your heart. God is everywhere and in everything you see. Paramahansa Yogananda promised his devotees that they would find God by following the trail of beauty. In this poem from his book, Whispers From Eternity, Yogananda beautifully conveys the omnipresence of the divine.

DOORS EVERYWHERE

O Father, when I was blind I found not a

The Woman in the Fifth Car Back

Caroline Myss

Caroline Myss has lots of great stories. This one is my all-time favorite. I got chills hearing her tell it live at a seminar. This excerpt is from her wonderful book, Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can.

One of the most profound stories that I ever heard in a workshop was told by a woman who had been seriously injured in a car accident and had had a near-death experience—I’ll call her Maggie. Maggie was so shattered that she went out of her body, and in that state, floating above the scene of the accident, she could hear how people in cars behind were were responding to the accident. Some were deeply

My Interview With Dr. Larry Dossey on Intercessory Prayer

Dr. Larry Dossey

It was a pleasure and a privilege to conduct an interview with Dr. Larry Dossey on the mechanics and meaning of intercessory prayer. Let’s start with his bio:

Dr. Larry Dossey’s eleven books include The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things, Reinventing Medicine, Prayer Is Good Medicine and Healing Words. He is also the executive editor of EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing, a peer-reviewed, bimonthly publication. Dr. Dossey has become an internationally influential advocate of the mind’s role in health and the role of spirituality in healthcare.

Click on the audio player below to hear our thirty-three minute interview