How Would It Be Different

Sometimes I wonder how this past year would have been different for me had others not been praying for me. It is a scary thought...but one that challenges me to consider, "Do I REALLY believe in prayer....that it changes the outcome in some way?" I DO believe that, but I also wonder how the outcome was changed.

I think of my friend who often told me that I was in their girls' night-night prayers every night. I think of people who stopped me at church and said, "We are praying for you, DAILY." I think of others who would let us know that their prayers included us. I think of the prayers said over us/me by our Elders and by a godly Aunt.

As I type this, I shudder to think too much about what the past year would have been like without the prayers of others. I have felt sustained...not tossed around. I have felt loved, not alone. I think I have grown in my faith, not despaired. To think of a year of aloneness, despair, and "being tossed about like on waves" seems really dark. I am so grateful it was not that way.

I had a professor in college who said one time that when we prayed, things changed in heaven. Once a prayer was uttered, something was different. That has always been inspiring and comforting to me. I cannot offer a lot of explanations here....but I do offer my thanks, my gratitude, and my belief that this past year WAS different than it could have been because of the prayers of three little girls...of friends...of older, godly couples...of family. I hope that someday, in heaven, when it won't be scary to know the answer, I will find out just how different my path was than it could of been.