AN AMATEUR PRAYER

In 1969 I began to notice pain, stiffness and swelling in the knuckles of both of my hands, accompanied by swelling. My doctor informed me that this was the beginning of arthritis, not unusual for a person of my age – mid-forties. He said aspirin might help the pain a little, but I would just have to learn to live with it.

In the winter of 1969-1970, a number of us from the First Methodist Church in Richardson, Texas, formed a group to learn more about ourselves and our place in Christianity. We completed several questionnaires about how we felt about a lot of things and got feedback from the headquarters of the prayer therapy group about our personalities, our strengths, and our vulnerabilities.

Our first group discussion leader introduced the prayer therapy approach. We were all somewhat hesitant, especially about revealing our inner feelings about ourselves, and toward others, even our closest acquaintances and spouses.

As the group matured, we became more personal, sharing sins of the past and attitudes at the present. The main theme seemed to be to listen to each other’s problems and to pray for them. One time I mentioned that my knuckles were bothering me so much that sometimes I could not concentrate on someone else’s problems. Several people immediately told me, “Pray about the pain.”

I wanted to ignore this advice as I was sure that God had a lot more important things to do than be concerned about my knuckles – like one of the couple’s impending separation, one girl’s almost crippling guilt about a theft (minor) in her childhood, and many problems with spouses and growing children. However, I decided I would try it – a very simple request: “Dear Lord, if it is your will, please take away the pain in my fingers.”

The pain went away. Period. To this day, the fingers are still somewhat stiff and the joints are lumpy, but there is no pain. A couple of years later, I had similar pains in both heels. Same prayer, same result. In the intervening years, I have had a variety of pains; same prayer, same result. A few I have had to renew several times.

I still feel somewhat guilty, an amateur praying about my personal pain. But this I know – many times I have had pain, and many times I have prayed, and the pain has gone away.

— Richard Graff

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist