My friend was in a terrible car crash a few weeks ago in which the driver, with whom he carpooled, was killed and in which he was injured critically. I won't get into the details of his injuries (they were myriad and life threatenning), but it has been pretty touch and go these several weeks, and he has only recently been able to come off a respirator. I have prayed about him and have asked the choir to pray about him as well. I have asked God to spare my friend and let him have a full recovery.
Things like this remind me of my confusion about prayer. It is my will that my friend survive and thrive, but I know that it may well be part of God's ineffable purpose to take him from us or to leave him broken. No amount of praying is going to influence events. The best I can do in prayer is to try to align myself with God's will as it unfolds and to derive peace from that. It pleased God for some reason for my friend to endure considerable torment, and that is hard to wrap my mind around although I try to reconcile that bad things happen to good people with my view of God as all loving.
How does this help my friend, though? I suppose if he knew that he was in the prayers of a lot of people that it would be a comfort to him. He is. He is a good man and highly regarded by everyone who knows him. A lot of people are pulling for him, and it can't hurt that there's a lot of positive energy around him.
I reckon that praying about and for my friend is more for my benefit. It is so disturbing to be reminded that one's life can be turned upside down in a moment and that God's wonderful plan for your life could very well involve getting seriously injured.
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