Do you believe in the power of prayer, do you pray?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Do you believe in the power of prayer, do you pray?

    • 303
      Yes......and it really does work.
    • 9
      Yes.....but it has never helped yet.
    • 53
      No
    • 24
      Undecided

389 members have participated

Specializes in ER, PACU, OR.

this is gonna have a poll also........

i want to know how many poeple out there, believe in the power of prayer, and how many believe it works? any stories? any proof? thoughts etc?

me

Rick,

Yes I really do believe in the power of prayer. For many reasons I guess. Like recently I had thought about dropping out of school because of a schedual change that would not leave me with much time to spend with my daughter. I prayed and prayed for God to give me some kind of answer in what I should do. I also asked a Pastor friend of mine from high school to pray for me. Well when I got to church on Sunday, I would have sworn that the message was the answer to my questions. The message was about having faith, that if you have faith and basically put your life, worries and troubles in God's hands that he would take care of them. Well all of the sudden I had this total calm and this feeling that no matter what I had to finish school. that some how everything would be taken care of, it was an awesome feeling.

Another example, I lost my dad suddenly at only 51 a little over a year ago. Prior to that my mother had been very, very sick. She had, had her first heart attack at 36 ( I think), had like 4 surgeries to try and correct a stomach prob. and had been told she had Lupus, shortly before Dad died. We honestly did not think that she could live with her daily pain all that much longer. No matter what, she always seemed sick. The doctors had told her she was in dire need to lose wieght, but try as she might she never could do it. Well after Dad died I was devistated, I was such a Daddy's girl. I cried and prayed to God to please not take my mother too, to help her to be healthy again, to lose weight, to just be able to stand for more than 15 mins. without being in so much pain. Well a year or so later, Mom has lost over 100 pounds and it has been at least six months since I have heard her say one thing about being ill. It is fantastic. She really did not even diet to lose the weight either. At 45 years old, Mom says this is the best she has felt in 25 years. I honestly believe God had a hand in all of that and will be forever grateful!!

So, yes I do believe in prayer! :) :)

Specializes in critical care.

This happened a long time ago, so I don't remember all the details.

A boy I knew was standing next to a large container of some kind of fuel, don't remember what it was for. But for some reason it blew up. He was careflighted to a big hospital. The MD and nurses said there was no way he would make it. The next day, Sunday, our church prayed for him. It's hard to explain, but this amazing peace came over me, my body shook a little. I wanted to call his parents and tell them that everything would be okay, but Iwas young and didn't understand what was going on. Well, I think the kid will graduate highschool next year. He has a glass eye and a little brain damage, but he's doing great.

Another one, My neighbor's boy was hit by a car while riding his four wheeler. Very poor prognosis. Parents wouldn't give up, lots of people praying for this kid. I saw him mowing his yard recently. He had to be held back a year in school, but he's doing fine.

I firmly believe that prayer works. Sometimes God says yes, sometimes is a flat no, it seems that so much of the time he says to just wait.

your stories touched my heart PKMom. God bless.

I remember going to prayer meetings as a child back in the early 70's, specifically for a teenaged girl in our congregation who was diagnosed with leukemia. The prognosis back then was nil. But her parents heard of experimental treatments being offered in Seattle so they took a chance. She ended up being the second successful bone marrow transplant in the US!!

Not only did she survive, but her father, an atheist, became a believer! He was jewish and lost his faith during the holocaust.

I'll never forget them....

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Firmely believe. See the story under the miracles thread.

Wish I knew how to answer this without sounding new agey and flakey because I really don't think I am, but I guess I'll just plunge in.

I think when we pray we open ourselves and connect ourselves to that power which is Everything--God in our culture...Vishnu, Buddha, etc. in others. Wisdom, healing, guidance, acceptance, love, and protection come from this source, and if we pray for THOSE kinds of things, and open ourselves to them, then yes, prayers are answered.

I definitely believe in prayer. I have seen my prayers answered so many times. However, I believe there is only one God and he's the only one who hears and answers our prayers. Prayer can definitely change things, but I don't believe we should pray just when we want or need something. Prayer is supposed to be part of our relationship with God where we spend time with him, thank him for what he's already done, listen to him, and of course ask him for things. I think we take this for granted way too much though and I am so thankful that prayer does work even if it's not in the way I would have wanted, b/c I know that God's plans are so much better than mine.

Specializes in Pediatric Rehabilitation.

I'm not a religious finatic, but I can't understand how anyone could see the beauty of life and not believe prayers are answered or that there is a greater power.

Even if you were unsure of prayer, with prayer comes hope. With hope comes possibility. It's a win-win situation.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Last winter, we discovered on a sorta "routine" CAT scan that my son's V-P shunt wasn't working. Further w/u revealed that the scarring r/t his necrotizing enterocolitis as a premie had left so many adhesions in his abd that his output of CSF @ the ripe old age of 17 could not be absorbed by his peritoneum. (An adult puts out up to 500cc of CSF/day)

The surgeon had already tried breaking up the adhesions during an earlier surgery, but they obviously reformed.

I had hand-picked 2 surgeons for him, a pediatric general surgeon, and an adult neurosurgeon. He (the NS) told me they would try to put it his gallbladder 1st, if that didn't work, the next choice would be the pluera. The pediatric surgeon was concerned that all the scar tissue would make it hard to free up the gallbladder.

I asked all sorts of people to pray for him, Catholic friends and family, a nun or 2, Protestant friends, Morman friends, a Rabbi, and e-mailed the pastor @ our church. He wrote me back and said to stop by after Mass on Sat eve, and he would give him the Sacrament of the Sick--what the church used to call the "Last Rites".

When the peds surgeon had barely gotten into the abdomen, his gallbladder literally presented itself into the incision! They didn't have to "dig around" AT ALL!

Now. Maybe it would've been fine without all the prayers, but I'm sure glad we had them. He has only in the hosp. ~ 48 hours!! That's the shortest time we've ever been in w/ a shunt related problem.

So, I'm very much in favor of praying--and I tell the parents of my pts. to put the rosaries and holy cards in the bed. They feel better, and I like it, too. The only thing I worry about is when they say: I'm leaving it in God's hands, because doing that DOESN'T mean you get what you want. I often pray for people to be able handle in a healthy way the things they need to deal with.

Right now, my "on the way to/from work" rosaries are for 2 friends with breast cancer (one is terminal), one friend going thru a painful joint problem, and one mom who is doing rehab, and, IMHO, deserves to get her baby. (I worked w/her for 2 months, I think I know a good one)

Anybody need to be added to the list, let know!:)

;) My husband is living proof that praying does work!!

And it also helps to have Faith to back up your prayers!!

;)

Ever since 9-11, I have been praying more than usual. I find myself more at peace now, even with everything going on, than I was before 9-11. To me that is powerful!

God grants me the serenity I need to go on about life!!

;) That does not mean that I do not have bad times, but it does mean that I have been givien more strength to get through those times!!

I also thank God that my Husband has a stronger Faith Today than He did when we met!! He tells me that he would not have made it this FAR in life if it was not for me to help him know that God is there if you want Him!!;)

I don't mean to preach, just trying to speak from my heart!!:)

Specializes in ER.

After praying pleading and begging at times the only Bible passage I believe in is "God helps those who help themselves"

I understand that praying is comforting, and talking about God can help some people in dire straits, but please everyone remember that those that have had faith and been ignored find it extremely painful if a caregiver quotes Bible passages. Although you may have the best of intentions...

We need to respect the faith of others, even if their faith is that they will be left high and dry. It is a defense mechanism against being hurt, on top of the crisis, and I don't think anyone should proselytize (sp?) if ONLY for that reason.

I have also noticed that anyone who has to preface a statement with "I'm a Christian and..." is about to come out with a real clunker. In my opinion you should make decisions and statements based on more than religion. Religious teachings need to be integrated into real life before spouting off like Old Faithful.

Flame away folks, I've got broad shoulders.

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