Does Prayer Change Things?

 When I was a child I was forced to attend a pretty conservative Christian church.  Not scary conservative - no one was handling snakes or anything - but conservative.  It was comforting to me to attend, partly for the sense of community, that I was with other people heading in the same direction, partly for the relief it gave me to feel like there was something greater out there.  Unfortunately, I was also highly sensitive to the You Shall Nots and the You Musts.  I was an anxious, fearful child who took everything way too seriously and any implication that I was falling short or misbehaving had an outsized effect on me, and this made me more anxious and fearful, especially when confronted with images like burning on a lake of fire for all eternity.  Lovely shit to tell a ten year old.   Like most alcoholics, desperately unhappy, hyper-aware of the hypocrisy and inconsistencies that can be found in any religion or philosophical pursuit, I turned away from my faith.  It has taken me a long time to get back home.

For most of my sobriety I didn't put much stake in prayer, feeling it had too many religious overtones.  At some point I noted that The Big Book states that when meditation, self-examination, and prayer are linked together logically then the benefit exceeds what the three of them could do separately.  1 + 1 + 1 = 5 sort of thing.  We were getting ready to take a trip many years ago when my very religious mother suggested that I pray for a safe voyage.  I demurred, wary of asking God for specific things.  I don't think God is going to answer if I pray for a good parking spot or to win the lottery, even when I add "if it be thy will" onto the prayer.  "Can't hurt to ask," mom opined.  I know when someone asks me for a favor I feel honored but the thought of asking God for a favor?  I can only imagine an offended, vengeful God taking the request and twisting it around so that it ends with a horrible, painful twist.

It occurred to me that I hadn't asked for a successful outcome to my money woes in my morning meditation.  Because mommy said it couldn't hurt to ask I asked.  That day I received a phone call from a guest relations supervisor with the tour company who strongly hinted that some kind of compensation could be expected.  She was a little cagey with the number but SuperK and I had resigned ourselves to a big, fat goose egg.  I'm still chuckling.  Does prayer change things?  Or did I just get what I wanted and it was a coincidence that I had made the request?  

Dunno.  Doesn't hurt to ask