A Powerful Way to Pray

God gave my daughter the gift of tongues years before this story begins, but she rarely used it. She felt foolish doing so. Was she babbling nonsense? Had God really given her the gift? Sometimes she worried she just made the whole thing up.

Recently while facing a challenge, Tori’s prayers seemed to hit a ceiling. Finally, as a last resort she decided to pray in her tongue. Soon after she began praying, she experienced a powerful breakthrough in the situation. Excited, she shared with her husband. He said since he’d never heard her pray in her tongue, maybe for their regular nightly prayers she should spend some time praying that way.

She did.

He listened.

Her husband is Jewish and knows some Hebrew. When her prayer finished he said, “Tori, you’re praying in Hebrew.” Some of the words he recognized. Others he looked up. But the main phrase she had been speaking over and over was, “Consecrated to God. Consecrated to God.”

God knows Tori’s heart. He knows she wants more than anything to be consecrated to God. So he gave the most effective words she could pray in the language Adam and Eve probably spoke in the garden. He guided her to focus on him and declare her love for him rather than asking for help.

And then he helped her.
            Though God has not given me the gift of tongues, I want the same thing Tori wants. I long to be consecrated to God. So I’ve begun praying aloud, declaring in front of all the heavenly powers as well as to God, “Consecrated to God.” I pray in my only tongue, English, and mean it with ever fiber of my being.

When I do that, I feel God powerful presence. That’s the best gift possible, even though I know he’s also answering my requests.