Prayer Archives - Faith and the Other Five Senses

How to Pray When God Doesn’t Seem To Care

smgianotti@me.com — May 15, 2018

Sometimes mom said “no,” but that never stopped me from asking. If I didn’t smell chocolate chip cookies as soon as I opened our front door after school, I’d request a snack. Sometimes she made me wait for dinner, but not always, so every day I asked. I had a confidence in my mom that I often lack with God.

For years, I questioned the value of praying for a husband, since I knew singleness could be part of God sovereign plan. Sometimes I doubt whether he cares about things like a tight budget. I find it hard to ask him to heal my sister-in-law’s multiple sclerosis, since a “no” pushes me into the dark place of suffering.

Photo by Asdrubal luna on Unsplash

I hear other Christians share similar obstacles. If God cares more about eternal things, like people dying and going to hell, they wonder whether he really cares about finding them a new job. If God is sovereign, he’ll do what he wants, so why bother asking for another child. If they ask God to heal their mom, but she still dies, they struggle with feeling abandoned by him Continue Reading…

2 Things I Never Saw in the Lord’s Prayer: Part 1

smgianotti@me.com — May 8, 2018

A stranger’s fingers grip mine. The words reverberate from my throat and into my ears. Liturgy is new for me–but stepping into the same words every Sunday works like a garden hoe on my heart. After weeks and months of hands grasping mine as we pray together, “Our Father in heaven,” two realizations have churned up from this regular tilling of the Lord’s Prayer.

Even though I grew up in nonliturgical churches, like many Christians, I memorized the Lord’s prayer. I could say it in my sleep, and when I started attending my husband’s church last fall, the words tumbled out of my mouth, often on autopilot.

Photo by Diana Simumpande on Unsplash, edited

In the months since, I’ve stubbed my spiritual toes on two truths about the Lord’s prayer, so large I’m shocked I never saw them before. (I’ll stick to tackling the first one here). In both cases, my blindness stemmed, in part, from treating the Lord’s prayer like a newspaper clipping. I learned it out of context and never asked how the surrounding paragraphs should shape my understanding of what Jesus intended to teach with this string of phrases.

In Bible, Christian, Christianity, church, Embodiment, God, Jesus, Liturgy, Prayer, Spiritual, Spirituality Bible, Jesus, Liturgy, Lord's prayer, Prayer, truth

Pills or Prayer?

smgianotti@me.com — April 12, 2018

This post first ran at Fathom Magazine on February 12, 2018.

* * * * *

She slumped in her chair as I again suggested that she might be depressed. She teared up, but declined a prescription. Her husband, a leader in the church, believed depression came from spiritual issues, not medical ones. She couldn’t risk people finding out she took pills for depression.

This is often the case when I see patients for mental health issues. I find that they want to condense their problem into something bite-sized. As a health care provider, I’m tempted to do the same. A diagnosis feels more manageable if we can isolate and label the problem. So we zero in on biochemistry. “Just give me a pill, doc.” Or we focus exclusively on spirituality. “If I had more faith, I could get past my anxiety.” Or we allow our social history to consume us. “I’m damaged goods—life will never get any better.”

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Other times, we do the opposite, ignoring or smothering dimensions of our lives that contribute to our diagnoses. We ignore the impact of relationships. “I can’t deal with those memories—they hurts too much.” Or we neglect the physical, recreational, or emotional aspects of our lives. “I’m too busy to exercise . . . find a hobby . . . spend time making friends.” But wherever we neglect part of our humanity in our struggle with mental health, we curtail God’s healing in our lives Continue Reading…

In Anxiety, Bible, Bipolar, Christian, Christianity, Depression, Embodiment, Faith, God, Health, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Medlcine, Mental health, Spiritual, Spirituality anxiety, bipolar, Christianity, depression, faith, God, healing, health, Holy Spirit, Jesus, medicine, mental health, Prayer

A Few Words that Changed Me

smgianotti@me.com — July 26, 2016

“So, you’re here today about your blood pressure,” I said, my words trotting out. The key to a successful morning at a doctor’s office is to keep up the tempo. Fall behind schedule before 9 a.m. and you’ll have a morning full of grumpy patients waiting for you. I dropped onto the swivel chair and opened my laptop.

“Blood pressure looks great. How long have you been off the pills?” A couple weeks. She’d waited till after surgery like we’d discussed.

“Any new problems?” No, she felt great. Surgery had gone well. No other concerns.

Photo courtesy of Megan Au via flickr.com (CC BY-ND-NC 2.0)

I closed my laptop and slid the stethoscope into my ears. I couldn’t believe my luck, this was going to be the quickest first-appointment-of-the-day ever.

“Sounds good. Hope you have a great week!” I stuffed the stethoscope into my pocket and headed for the door.

“One more thing…” she said Continue Reading…

The Space to Love You

smgianotti@me.com — November 24, 2015

Unpack my heart

and give me room to breathe

your true self,

for I could never

wrap my arms around

your whole self

or hold my breath

and reach the bottom of

your deep self.

But, I can wade this moment

in your shallows,

then spend forever venturing

from shore.

Photo courtesy of Rob Bye via StockSnap.io

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In Christianity, Embodiment, Love, Poetry God, love, Ocean, Poetry, Prayer, Water

Stealing Psalm 82 for Paris

smgianotti@me.com — November 14, 2015

She got a call. “Your brother was at the Bataclan.” Tomorrow’s lunch is off. She won’t ever meet him for lunch again.

How do we make sense of such evil? How do we pray?

Photo courtesy of CreationSwap via creationwsap.com

Over breakfast, I read Psalm 82—a poem by King David where his trust and confusion bleed together—a space for struggling with God Continue Reading…

In Christianity, Current Events, Poetry God, ISIS, November 13 2015, Paris, Prayer, Psalm 82, Struggle

Thank God for Pad Thai

smgianotti — January 14, 2015

The smell of spices wafted towards me, distracting me from my date’s prayer until he said, “God, thank you for giving Thai food to humanity.”

I choked on my saliva as I tried to hold back a laugh. In one sentence his prayer shattered the sombre Christianity that creeps around America. In thanking God for the heap of rice noodles between us, my date was paying homage to the Grand Chef who injected flavor and fun into the necessity of eating.

This incident reminded me that I need to make room in my prayers for Pad Thai…and electric blankets and Mozart’s concertos and when the Buckeye’s win (if I was an Ohio State fan).

Photo courtsey of Luca Nebuloni via flickr.com

Too often my prayers–and my spirituality–fixate on the abstract. I know God wants me to pray, but does he really care if I love swing dancing? I know he wants me to forgive, but does it matter to him whether I appreciate the artistry in one of Emily Dickinson’s poems?

In Christianity, Embodiment Food, Prayer, Senses, Thai Food

Foot Problems, Paperwork, and Prayer

smgianotti — December 16, 2014

September 2014

I locked the office door and turned toward my car. The movie theater, with its sea of windshields glittering under the lamp light, greeted me. I crumpled into the driver’s seat and massaged my neck, trying to release the lead ball suspended between my shoulders.

Ten minutes later, the smell of fries—hot from the wire basket—filled the car.

“Why does it take me three hours to do paperwork?” I mumbled, cramming a fry into my mouth.

In Christianity, Faith, Medlcine, Work Dependence, Paperwork, Prayer, Work