THE POWER OF PRAYER

Yesterday, we mentioned prayer as something that can help during difficult times. When your back is up against the wall and also between a rock and a hard place, even the most devout Atheist might just mumble a few words directed skyward.

According to Time Magazine, February 23, 2009 research has shown that:

• People who attend religious services have a lower risk of dying in one year than people who don’t attend. Those who never attend have twice the risk of dying over the next 8 years than those who attend once a week.
• People who believe in a loving God do better after a diagnosis of a serious illness than people who believe in a punitive god.
• Spiritually oriented people with HIV have better disease control than those not so inclined.
• People who pray and people who meditate share similar changes in their brain structure.
• Prayer may work like a placebo offering hope and optimism for the believer which may convert to cures. Self-fulfilling prophecy works in powerful and mysterious ways.
• In a study designed to see how regular church goers fare under economic stresses, they found benefits from the social support they received ( a reason we began free support groups)
• They also found that people who feel grateful for what is going right in their lives have a reduced incidence of depression.

I have told you that I would never blow smoke in your direction. I do not pray or attend services regularly. I do, however, remind myself of the Serenity Prayer at least three times a day.

God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change; the courage to change what I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

It is the wisdom part that’s really hard. I pray you find that soon.

Bye for now,
Bill

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