Why pray to God?

The title is one of the most questioned, most discussed and the most controversial subject in present day. I am but a lay person who hasn’t followed any of these discussions that world-renowned, highly knowledgeable people have had. But I, in my short life time, have questioned the presence of God and the need to pray to Him too. 

As we all know, the reason behind all the controversy is because He is not visible to us. We can only feel (or so people claim to) but can’t see Him. A few of my atheist friends asked me why I believe in Him, what I find in praying to Him and many more questions. Though, they did not oppose my belief they gave me an opportunity to think about them. I realized a few things about my devotion to God. This has nothing to do with the discussions that go on in this world. It is purely my personal opinion.

I do believe that there is a Supreme Power that is more powerful than us and that is the God I believe in. The life we lead, the happenings in it are not in our control. Things happen when they have to. Who decides that? I have heard many say that it is us who control our destiny but it is not, at least in my opinion. When situation is smooth, favourable to us we don’t tend to question anything but when it goes awry, that’s when we lose control of ourselves. The most confident ones are rare to find who do not question when they are upset with their problems like they don’t, when they are happy. But the majority are people like me. So whom do we turn to when we don’t know what is happening? Who is the wisest who can guide us through this journey of life? Definitely it is none.

As the famous saying goes, we came alone, we leave alone and we have to travel through this journey alone. No one can help us through it. To me, when I am totally at loss, I turn to this Supreme Power that I believe does exist, to guide me through this. He may not give me a helping hand and tell me this is how I will have to step through, but praying to Him is like a meditation that gives me the peace of mind which in turn helps me calm myself, analyse the situation and take steps to solve the problem instead of drowning in the overwhelming fear of feeling lost in a sea of puzzles. He is a form to whom I can vent out my feelings and be sure that I won’t be judged from it but when I do the same with my peers, relatives or my own family it is different. We know human nature and frankly humans are judgemental even if they claim themselves not to be. Also, there are certain things that cannot be shared with anyone but I can with this form of Power. I may not get solutions to my problems; I may not be assured that it is heard. But, that’s not what I need. All I need is to cry my heart out, wipe it off and lift the heaviness off my chest so that I can think more rationally and take the nearly right decisions which I cannot when my mind is clouded with innumerable thoughts.

This is God to me. A person or a place or just a feeling of His presence or any form I feel Him to be where or with whom I can find my solace is my God. I am not very clever, intelligent and full of knowledge to question or confront the topic of God. I am but a lay person ;-)