Prayer

What I Learned

Prayer is a way of communicating with God in any way you can think of.  This unit, I learned that prayer is more than just reading God’s Word; we can each make prayer our own.  Some new ways to pray I learned about were meditation, song or dance, and writing a letter to God.  Meditation struck my attention most because I never thought that relaxing could be a way of prayer.  I would like to try meditating more as a form of prayer to center myself.  I feel like once I am centered, I can really think more about  what I am grateful for and pray to God.  This unit I also learned that gratitude is a large part of prayer.  By meditating, I can accomplish being grateful more.  The acronym ACTS, which stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, is a way to focus my prayer on what I want to talk to God about.  Prayer is a big part of my religion, and I now know that there are so many ways to do this.  I chose this image because it shows how there is no one right way to pray.  Everyone can pray differently and still have a loving relationship with God. 

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New Prayer Practices

Prayer can be done in many ways.  Meditation, personal prayer, and recited prayer are just a few ways to communicate with God.  In my life, I can see myself implementing meditation more.  As a high schooler, I am constantly stressed out about homework and tests.  By taking time out of my day to refocus my priorities, I can see my stress-level decreasing majorly.  During this meditation, I want to focus on bringing to mind what I am grateful for.  I feel that by having these things in my mind I will able to really focus on what is important in my life since so many things I should be grateful for I take for granted.  Meditation is a form of prayer than can help me better communicate with God and help my personal health.  I chose this image because I would like to start meditating more as a form of prayer.  This image also looks like the person is in the center of a circle which is one reason I want to meditate, to center myself more.  

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The Case for Christ 

The movie The Case for Christ is about a man who doubts Christianity after his wife begins to follow this faith.  Eventually he believes and wants to be fully committed to God.  This movie showed many forms of faith and prayer like when the nurse believes that she was at the same restaurant as the family for a reason, when the family attends Mass together, when Leslie prays by reading scripture, and eventually when Lee decides to write a book proving the facts behind Christianity.  One of the main messages I got from the movie was that even if we are in doubt of God, He will always be waiting for us with open arms.  Even after all the doubt Lee had in God, God still accepted Lee and led him in a life of faith.  Another message from the movie was to support those we love even if we do not agree with their beliefs.  Lee didn’t support Leslie in her becoming a Christian, and it almost destroyed their relationship. The Case for Christ taught me that even if I have doubts at time, God is still watching over me.  I chose this image because it portrays how God will always be looking over us, just like the message of the movie.  

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New Insights About Myself

This unit, I feel that I discovered a little more about myself.  The different types of prayer made me realize that I usually do not take time out of my day to talk to God.  I am usually doing homework and forget to thank God for my education.  This pushed me to make more time for God in my life.  Now every night before I fall asleep, I bring to mind everything I was grateful for that day.  The gratitude class taught me that I take things, like my education or clean water, for granted.  I usually take a shower or get a glass of water without even thinking that there are people who struggle to have clean water every day.  I now call to mind what I am grateful for more often to show God that I am thankful for everything I have in my life.  This unit on prayer allowed me to communicate more with God.  I chose this quote because it is what I want to focus on after this unit.  I feel that if I think about what I am grateful for everyday, I can be more relaxed and happier. 

                                                                                                                                                          

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