My Grandmother completely lived a life of "faith". She never planned anything, never intentionally saved money or strove for a better job or promotion. She was happy just being who she was and knew that if she prayed, all things would be fine.
It was weird to watch that growing up, but even as a kid, I had to admit that, "If Grandma was praying for something you'd better watch out, 'cause sure as Sunday, it'd happen." Even to this day, 10 years after she's moved on, if something's going well or there was some kind of serendipity, we say, "Grandma must be praying for us." She was a true Prayer Warrior.
Back in the mid 60's, one of my Aunts ran away to San Francisco and ended up living with a bunch of Freaks (their term for themselves, not mine) in a speed den in Haight - Ashbury.
Grandma told her work she needed to leave for a little while, grabbed a bag of clothes for her and her daughter and headed out to the Haight with no idea of where exactly her daughter was, how she was going to get her home, what she was going to do or anything. She just prayed that everything would be alright.
Three days later she's in San Fran. cooking eggs and bacon for about 15 tuned-in and dropped out hippies who hadn't eaten or slept in about a week. It took about two weeks, but she got her daughter squared away - as well as four other runaways - and got her (and them) home. Went back to work the next day with no issues or worries.
When I first decided to take on a life of Faith, I prayed for humility and patience. Word to the wise:
"Don't ever do that." The following week I lost my job and was unemployed for nine months. I learned that if you pray for Humility, you will be humbled. If you pray for Patience, you will be made to wait. If you pray for strength, you will have burdens to bear.
These days I pray for mercy and guidance in being who I'm supposed to be. And I check in with Grandma every once in a while to make sure I can get a little help.
