Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/90

78

I do not know that I can tell any girl how to pray, for each of us unconsciously has her own way. All that I can do is to tell you mine. God Himself has never seemed far off from me, and there is nothing for which I would not ask Him. I think He knows my temptations, and He knows me physically and mentally. Therefore, when I say: "Dear God, take away this sorrow," or "give me this pleasure," I know He understands, and will do as seemeth best to Him. When the burden of the day becomes almost too great, the cry is only, "Lord, help me." And I tell you from my heart that I have never prayed and found my prayer unanswered, not always, perhaps, just in the way I expected it, but in time I saw the wisdom of it all. I believe in spoken prayer, but I believe also in the greatness of the prayer that is never uttered by the lips. I believe that with God every intense wish is a prayer, and so I warn you, as did the preachers long ago, to beware of that for which thou wishest with all thy heart. Many girls, not content, or not feeling sure of the words that would come from their own hearts, appreciating the majesty rather than the mercy of God, prefer a formula of prayer.