In today's growing secular world, it is rare to find people who still believe in the power of prayer. But Magnificant magazine columnist Jennifer Hubbard is one such person, and she credits prayer with keeping her sane through one of the most difficult times of her life.
Hubbard is the mother of Catherine Violate, the 8-year-old girl who was one of the 20 children and six adults killed by a lone gunman during the December 2012 attack at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut.
During that heartbreaking moment, Hubbard said she, her husband, and all those victimised by the shooting incident relied heavily on prayer.
"There's no way, I believe, that we as a family, we as a community, could have walked through the darkness without the prayers of so many," she tells the National Catholic Register. "There were many days that were just very dark."
Hubbard recalls praying to God, asking Him to bring Catherine back home. She prayed repeatedly while waiting at the firehouse with other families of staff and students who were still trapped in Sandy Hook.
God might not have brought Catherine back to the firehouse, like Hubbard prayed for. But He still answered her prayer. "Catherine's home [with God]. He answered my prayer," Hubbard explains. "And in answering my prayer and bringing her home, there's the hope and understanding that I'll see her again."
There are many people who still doubt the power of prayer, but Hubbard wants people to know that they risk more whenever they refuse to talk to God.
"When we don't listen to God, when we take matters into our own hands, or look for the answer that we want him to respond with, I think that's dangerous," she asserts. "When we don't listen to God, we are just belligerent. We are putting ourselves above God. By not listening to God, by taking matters into our own hands, we feel like we've got this."
There is hope in prayer, continues Hubbard, and every time people bow down their heads and share a private conversation with God, they are "surrendering whatever you have that's holding you back from seeing [God's] purpose."
