Prayer :Does it work?

Faith & Science Conversation
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There is one side effect they may not warn you about, and that is opposite hip pain following total knee replacement. It’s probably usually not too severe, but surf on “opposite hip pain after knee replacement” and you’ll get a lot of hits.

It was and still is a problem for my wife after surgery last April, but the situation is somewhat unusual. She had a very severe knee injury 50 years prior and it pulverized the tibial plateau. She had already had three surgeries on it within the first year and a half, but over the years her functional leg length had way shortened due to lateral wobble in the joint. Over the years she developed significant lumbar scoliosis, I’m presuming because of the shorter leg and changed pelvic angle. The knee prosthesis straightened and tightened the knee, and it is fine, but a week and a half after the knee replacement, she developed excruciating pain in her opposite hip (thankfully not as bad any more), but she still has significant sciatic issues in both hips and thighs. The orthopedic doc and staff were supposed to be controlling her pain, but all they cared about was her knee pain. :confused:

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Thanks for the tip, Dale. I’m already having a lot of hip pain on both sides so I’ll be looking to upgrade those too once the knee is solid. Fortunately the left knee is good.

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The one sports med doc (the only one we could see in a hurry after the hip pain started) had X-rays done of her hips and there was zero arthritis, which was surprising. Now my wife asks me what the sports med doc said. “Your hips are beautiful!” :grin:

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I wish you all the best with your knee. Doesn’t it stink when your body parts are off warranty? I remember my mother said once, “I fell on what used to be my good knee.”

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It surely does.

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I think Pevaqurk has a great point here. Unless one prays very specifically one can’t know if his prayer is answered. (see my Turkish translator experience thread here).

Secondly, God promises us daily bread, he doesn’t promise us riches, or more than we need. Too often our prayers are for more than we need.

And sometimes we pray for things that are not God’s will. When I was laid off in 1986 for taking a Christian stand at work, I spent 4 years earning less than I had, and six months earning less than half what I had made. The day I was laid off, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. 2 months later, my son was diagnosed as growth hormone deficient requiring an $80,000 per year medicine. I felt my prayers didn’t go above the ceiling.

That four years was crucial to learning the oil business and crucial to the rest of my career. When my wife needed me to recover from cancer, I was there cause I had no where to go. As to my son’s medicine, the pharmaceutical company wrote us off their books (long story but we paid nothing).

After 4 years, I got a job that paid what I had been making and after a year was made manager of geophysics for the Western US (because I really knew the industry better than most by then) and 10 years later was named Mgr of subsurface technology for the North Sea, then Dir. of Technology, then Exploration director for china, then I ran my own business.

Those bad times were crucial and I complained to God about all of it.

In 2003 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, gleason 8, spreading into my gut and the doctor told me I would be dead by 2005. Prayer has kept me alive as a statistical outlier of statistical outliers. In 2008 I was told I had 5 years left. In 2013 I was told I had 3 years left. This year, I was told I have 6 months left. We will see. But the prayers of many many saints from all over the world has kept me alive.

Prayer doesn’t always work because God isn’t in the business of glorifying us by buying us Mercedes Benz’s. Nor does he promise us cures, or a life free of trouble–indeed, the Christian life lived correctly is often a life of trouble.

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Retrospect is a wonderful thing. We look back and decide what was from God and what was not. I am not saying that God was not a factor in your life but, from a purely sceptical point of view it could have just been circumstance.
As a Christian I am perfectly happy to assign things to God but it is very easy to understand the Hawkins viewpoint and hard to counter it.
I think the problem comes when we try to see God at work, or think we see God absent. Prayer is not about answers. It is about communicating with God, unloading our fears and concerns and leaving them at His feet. What most people do is pick them straight back up again and / or dwell on them.
IMHO God is about the now, not the future and to a lesser extent the past. The past shows God’s faith to humanity, the Future is still to come. If we can live in the present and let the worries go then perhaps that is all we need of God?
I was told my wife would die by thirty. She had her 61st in January. Was that God or a misdiagnosis? To be honest I don’t really care I am just thankful she is still with me.

Richard

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One can’t always understand what was going on until long after the events. We are asked to live by faith, not by sight, and faith sometimes means we walk where we know little but trust that God is doing right for us. During my struggles, I was not a very faithful person, but God was.

You might be correct about if we let go of our worries we might find all we need of God. Given my present situation, I find, god to be more real to me than at any time previously. Sad that it took a death sentence to see things that way, but I spent over a decade doubting Christianity and looking at it from the atheist perspective (which isn’t that much different than what I often find argued here by Christians). I go to my son’s church, he is a pastor, but I have told him that I think I worship in a way few in the congregation get to. When we sing about the world to come, it is far more real to me.

I am delighted that your wife survived. I do believe that God holds our lives in his hands and we don’t go until he says so. Last fall I got a local oncologist to do the chemo MD Anderson wants to do, so I don’t have to drive down there all the time. She is a wonderful doctor but she raised me with her colleagues because I have lived so long, with what her experience and the MD Anderson experience says shouldn’t be. I know I am an anomaly and it is wholly up to God. I know mine is not a misdiagnosis. I have had many analyses of my cancer. It is there in 7-8 places around my body. They have drilled into my bones for samples, they have stuck wire biopsies into my cancer for genetic tests. None of that did much good. But I know the diagnosis is correct.

I have been unable to find mortality statistics on people who were in the exact situation with my type of cancer. Why? they don’t live long enough to make statistics worthwhile. Yet here I am.

I also know I am having a bigger impact for the Lord than I ever had in all the previous years of my life! I can witness to other cancer patients who are open to hearing the gospel.

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Dear Gbob. Im not a cancer patient and i can’t understand your pain but thank you for sharing this and being positive about life. I just wanted to say to you to not give up as many of us here have not over difficulties. I didnt have nothing to say but i just wanted to reply to just let you know that im here. God bless you

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Many people have shared their views here. I would like to offer an experience that I believe demonstrates that prayer does “work”. It’s a difficult thing for me to do because I get nervous about what people will think. I wasn’t actually going to share this. But God did what I’m about to talk about so that He would receive glory. And I feel like I should share. So I’m going to.

My son started teething early, a little after the three month mark. It’s not unheard of, but it’s not common. We took him to his pediatrician and she confirmed, based on the symptoms, that he was teething. Symptoms included crying for no discernible reason, lots of drooling, red cheeks, and hesitancy to feed. Tylenol was called into the pharmacy. However, for some reason there was an issue with insurance (go figure).

My wife and I did not know when it was going to be worked out or what was going to happen. What we did know was that our baby was suffering immensely. So I decided to pray. I gently touched my son’s cheek and I prayed, asking the Lord to take the pain away from him. Almost immediately, he stopped crying. My wife and I stared at each other with wide eyes and mouths dropped (or at least, hers was–can’t say about mine). We were shocked. I’m trembling just typing it. And then we immediately praised Him. My son did not cry for most of the day, until around the time that it was time to get his Tylenol, which was well into the evening. I paid attention to him for the rest of the day to see if it was a fluke. It wasn’t.

People may interpret this how they wish. They’re going to. It’s inevitable. However, the most reasonable explanation for this, to me, is that the Lord, my God, intervened on my son’s behalf, temporarily relieving his pain until we could get him modern medicine.

Does God always give us what we ask for? No. Do I walk around praying stuff like this and it works every time? Certainly not. But that was a moment I will never forget. It’s a moment I share with you now. Part of the power of prayer is the experience. And I think that’s the point.

I hope my sharing this story encourages everyone here.

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Im happy that your prayer got answered . Sadly they dont for my point . But im glad that im became christian since it plays a role about not ending my life. Its just difficult to get professional help at that point in my life that im doing my best just to not get mad. Thanks for sharin

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:frowning:

I’m glad you became a Christian, but sad that you struggle with suicidal thoughts and depression. If you’re having those thoughts now, please don’t hurt yourself. You don’t yet know what God has in store for you or how He might use you.

For what it’s worth, I regularly struggle with depression and even suicidal thoughts. So do many others. You’re not alone. And don’t listen to what some may say–you’re not a bad Christian for struggling with those thoughts, or with depression. It does not mean you don’t have any faith. Many Christians throughout the ages have struggled with depression. Spurgeon is a perfect example of this. Based on his writings, I suspect that Paul may have as well.

For what it’s worth, I’m going to be praying for you. If you ever want to talk, I am here. I will listen. :slight_smile:

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I know im not a bad Christian cause i know God loves me. I really do appreciate you beign there for talking although i dont want to complain about my depression suicidal thoughts as i get people get tired over time listening to me(i would have been too so no worries admiting it) . Thanks for the prayers i try my best everyday.

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I just wanted to get that out there. It’s a well-known stigma in Christian circles, so I thought I’d get that out right out of the gate.

Well, I’m here if you need me. :slight_smile:

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Thanks Nick. No, I won’t give up. I went out for a walk around my block yesterday cause I realized my legs, which have been damaged by a phase 1 trial drug, were weaker than they should be. I barely made it home, told my son I made the walk cause I had to. lol. But I will go walking again, to try to get my legs better even if I only have a few months. I am happy, I am content with whatever happens. and I know where I am going, so, don’t worry for me. I am not depressed about this at all. My depression about then ended about 16 years ago. Since then, I decided to enjoy what life I have left, and it has turned in to much more life than I expected.

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Thanks for sharing this personal story. I am always encouraged by how God often answers prayers by involving multiple people. My church in the U.S. streams its services, so sometimes we watch them when we are traveling instead of going to a Mexican church. Last Sunday my pastor said that on Friday afternoon he had been praying for a certain young family in the congregation who had a sick child, crushing medical bills, and who was feeling kind of desperate. As he was praying, he thought to himself, I wish I had $1000 I could just give to this family to give them some breathing room and help them out. He finished up his prayer time and later that evening he was watching a Hallmark movie with his wife, and the doorbell rang. A man he had never met was there and he said that someone had asked him to ring the bell and hand him this envelope and he’d know what to do with it. Inside was 10 hundred dollar bills. After briefly wrestling with the tempting idea that maybe God wanted him to take his wife on a little weekend getaway, he did know what to do with it, and he took it over to the family who needed it. Both the pastor and the family were blessed by God’s answer to prayer.

I have heard and been a part of many stories like this where God connects multiple people in his “answer” and everyone is encouraged and has their faith strengthened. It is one of the reasons why, when skeptical people say that people who see answers to prayer in their lives are just putting a believer’s spin on fortunate circumstances, I think to myself, no, you don’t know what I have seen. It is also one of the reasons I think that we should keep in mind that miracles are signs, not necessarily violations of natural laws. Someone showing up at your door and handing you the money you wished you had to help someone out is surely a sign of God’s care, provision, and listening to our very specific concerns. I think those kind of miracles happen all the time.

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What you wrote above, Christy, dovetails with what I just read last night in one of Macdonald’s sermons about prayer. I’ll paste an excerpt below.

But will not any good parent find some way of granting the prayer of the child who comes to him, saying, ‘Papa, this is my brother’s birthday: I have nothing to give him, and I do love him so! could you give me something to give him, or give him something for me?’ ‘Still, could not God have given the gift without the prayer? And why should the good of any one depend on the prayer of another?’ I can only answer with the return question, ‘Why should my love be powerless to help another?’

MacDonald, George. The Complete Works of George MacDonald. Musaicum Books. Kindle Edition.

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Forgive me. but is it the stay of execution or the renewed hope for a future beyond that fires your faith? The Christian message is that Christ conquered death. He did not remove it altogether. Our lives on this earth will end in the form that we know it. What is to come is probably beyond our full comprehension. All we have at present are metaphors and promises. For me my faith in God is an assurance that, whatever happens He will be with us, right up to death and beyond. I can face the now knowing that the future is secure. I do not have to fear death, if that means I can then be closer to God.
My father had a couple of strokes and then lived for nearly 25 years slowly debilitating. What was remarkable was his ability to cope with a body that slowly deserted him, Yes he got frustrated. But those who knew him saw God at work. My sister prayed earnestly for a full recovery but I knew that was not what dad himself wanted or needed. My sister was disappointed in God and when my mother eventually died my sister went temporarily insane, literally. It is the difference between praying for what we want and praying with an open mind for what God is doing and will do. And, maybe, understanding what God, and faith in Him, does.

Form my experience there is no doubt that God answers prayer, but there is a great deal of misunderstanding about what the answers are.

Richard

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I think @gbob would echo that, and wants to use his remaining time echoing the first petition in The Lord’s Prayer and being active in pursuing it.

So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

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Absolutely and happiness is a choice even in the darkest times.

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