I was confused, heartbroken, angry, worried, emotional, sad, broken, and lost. This is me telling you that if I could look to prayer for hope, so can you. This is me reaching out to everyone and letting you know that no matter what emotions you are feeling, prayer is such a powerful solution. I don’t know if you believe in God or not, and honestly, this is better for non-believers to hear. This is not me telling you to believe in God or some higher power, but me telling you to believe in yourself and your life enough to want to pray.

You do not need to feel alone.

Never ever in life whether you are celebrating or breaking down do you need to feel alone. Maybe you aren’t sure if there is “someone up there” to talk to or not, but why not try? It’s comforting just to talk and release yourself of burdens. No one deserves to walk through this world with mind full of burdens, do yourself a huge favor and release them. You are not alone.

You need guidance.

Life is not easy and choices are not simple. Every step you take in life affects who you will become and can never be changed. You are one imperfect being and are not capable of always knowing what you are supposed to do next. It’s crazy how life has a way of throwing us all these options and we have prayer as the way to understand which door walks us down the right path for our future.

You mess up and that’s OK.

Once again, you are not perfect… and you need to be OK with this. You need to be able to understand the mistakes you have made and take lessons out of experience for the future. You need a pat on your back and knowledge tha with your imperfections and mistakes, you can come out being an even better human. You need to accept yourself as is and decide how you’re going to become the person you strive to be.

You do not need to fear silence.

You do not have to find yourself afraid of silence. Life is hectic and you should find peace in silence. Under no circumstance do you ever need to feel afraid to lay in bed at night because you’re scared of your thoughts. Find peace and thankfulness in this silence and use this time for prayer. Let your silence be filled with beauty, bliss, and comfort; stop being afraid.

You deserve understanding.

Before you begin to pray, you live this confusing life where even if things seem OK, you do not understand life. You find yourself frustrated because you do not have answers. In prayer, you may not receive direct answers, but you receive understanding. You begin to gradually find meaning in the disasters and direction for the future. You deserve to understand your life and mind, give yourself direction.

You will get what you ask for or something even better.

If you find no other reason than this to start praying, then let it be. With the guidance of God, we know that when we do not get what we what, this is only reason for celebration for what we will get. We do not always get what we want and prayer won’t always get you what you want. However, if you do not get what you want, it is because God knows what you need and that is always so much better. As cliche as it may be, there is a plan for everything and there is a lot of comfort in this cliche. Life gets tough and situations make it tougher, but knowing that together this all is part of your plan is beautiful.

Once again, this is not a letter reaching out to Christians solely; this is me encouraging everyone with the power of prayer.

Everyone deserves to be told about this power and truthfully should be encouraged to do so. We are so lucky to be able to have this constant conversation in our daily lives. Maybe you do not know if you believe in God or maybe you don’t even know what to say yet, but this is okay. John Bunyan once said, “In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without heart.” There is no right or wrong way to prayer, there is simply prayer. Remember this: It is not about what you believe or what you say, it is about where your heart is. Maybe your prayer begins in silence; just let your heart be open and let prayer in, you need it and you deserve it.