A word or two on praying, our mission as Christians, and a little personal background

I think the Lord gives every Christian a mission. I'm not real good at witnessing and telling people how they can be saved. This comes in part because I believe each time a person tried to witness to me in earlier years it just drove me further away from God and the church. But I feel I am good at being a prayer warrior and I think that praying for people is the mission the Lord has assigned to me.

I have kept a lengthy, active, daily prayer list for years. Including my church prayer list I pray for 150 to 200 people a day. Even when I was not really saved, I prayed on a regular basis for my family (especially my children) and friends and peace and for those who were in need. Some will disagree, but I know the Lord heard and answered my prayers for others many times. He did not punish me for not being a Christian at the time, and my prayers were answered.

I grew up attending many different churches and continued with that pattern through most of my early adult life. I can remember asking Jesus to come into my heart during several Vacation Bible Schools (each of a different faith) when I was very young. I almost converted to Catholicism during my teen years, much to my (Episcopalian) grandmother's horror at the time.

What brought me to the Southern Baptist was a neighbor and good friend, Mrs. Alexander. Mrs. Alexander encouraged me to send my youngest son to church with her each Sunday when he was still so small his little short legs couldn't make the steps on the church bus. I would lift him on and someone would help get him off when the bus brought Mrs. A and Glove back home.

Whenever there was a special program at church I would attend with them, and then I started volunteering each summer to help with Vacation Bible School and from there I began building a true relationship with the Lord and with a group of friends that would become and still remain like family. I nearly drowned the preacher when I was baptized, but it was of course a blessed day in my life.

After becoming a Christian I struggled a little with my prayer life. Mostly because I tried to pray the "right" way. One day during a Sunday School lesson I shared this with the (then) preacher's wife. She shared that she believed we all can pray in a different manner. There doesn't have to be a right or wrong way to pray if it is sincere (although scripture will guide us on how to pray). She said that she herself prayed for different things and different people on different days of the week, but on a regular basis. This inspired me to go back to my old way of praying for everyone by name on a daily basis. It immediately felt right to me.

A few months back I ran across a blog that I can't find now. I just remember that when I read the post I was angry at the blogger because he in essence was saying that people who pray like I pray are not praying at all that it's just a bunch of words and names with no meaning. In other words it's not the right way to pray. So maybe that blogger's mission is to make us stop and think about the way we pray.

I know the Lord leads me in my praying. That's all I need to know about prayer for now.