When someone asks you to pray -

When someone asks you to pray about something - what do you do or say?

Prayer is kind of a major-thing for me. I think its one of the greatest gifts God gave us, so I tend to "observe" other people in regards to prayer.

I often hear people ask for prayer requests, who are told, "Oh, yes, I'll pray for you," but you end up wondering if the person making the promise really does say the prayer? I like the ones who go, "Yes! Let's ask God now!"

I also noticed that people sometimes have a nasty habit of refusing to pray for things. I don't mean people saying, "I can't pray that God does it your way, but I will pray that God helps you accept His will, whatever His will is." THAT I can understand. I mean, people who flat out say, "No, I won't pray for that." I was shocked the first time I encountered that. It was a prayer for healing, and some people reacted with responses like, "If you pray for healing, and God says no, then you might lose your faith, so just pray that His will be done." Well, no. Ask God for what you want from Him. If He says no, He says no, but ASK.

I've seen this quite often when young couples ask for prayers about relationships that are rocky. They ask people to pray that the relationship works out, and some well meaning soul says, "No. I don't think you need to be with that person!" In cases like that, what I say is, "I'll talk to God about what you want, but I'm going to ask Him to help you accept what He wants." And then I do that, usually with something like, "Heavenly Father, Jane loves Jim, and is truly afraid of losing him. If it is possible in your will, please let them work through this problem together. If it is not possible for them to be together, Lord, then please prepare their hearts so that the parting is not so painful."

I also tend to pray about the little things. I've had people say, "You shouldn't bother God with that!" Yet, at a time when I felt the MOST down in my spiritual life, the time I most needed to know that God was still watching out for me despite how it might appear on the surface, praying for a set of lost car keys and finding them immediately in a place I had already looked 16 times - is what convinced me that no matter how bad it looks, God IS still in His heaven, and He IS still looking and watching and love, and He DOES care more than anyone on earth could care.

So - how about you? Are there times you promise to pray and don't? Times you refuse to pray? Times you've asked for prayer and been ignored?

Another thing that bothers me.
I notice that in "group" meetings, when people ask for prayer for say - their big toe to stop hurting - everyone remembers to pray for the toe. But when they ask for prayer for a lost friend or loved one - people often forget to pray that prayer. Why?

A P.S., I overheard my son and a friend talking once. The friend said, "How do you know that there is a God?" My son replied, "Because whenever I pray he answers. He's always finding stuff Mom and I lose."