I learned to pray when I was a little girl. I was taught to pray for things I was thankful for, my parents, our house, and food on the table. When I was around my teenage years I learned to pray for my friends and family who were sick, for safety when traveling, things I was thankful for and forgiveness for things I had done wrong. As an adult I learned from trials and tribulations to pray for protection, wisdom and strength. There was one particular situation that first taught me the importance of praying for my enemies.
I had worked for a couple that was strong in their Baptist beliefs and they were constantly trying to show me how wrong my faith in the Book of Mormon was and how me and all my family that believed as I did were going to rot in hell. After a brutal verbal assault from them one day, I left work and prayed. Without thinking at all, my car and I drove to Susan Mauck at the clinic.
As I was praying in the car the Lord gave me Psalm 46. I wasn’t sure what it was so when I got to the clinic with tears and snot bubbles, Susan took me to the back and prayed with me. We then looked up Psalm 46, verse one is the part that stood out immediately, “God is our refuge and strength, a present help in trouble”.
Susan encouraged me to pray for my enemies as much if not more than my family. I found this task extremely difficult because I was so upset, but I did pray for my enemies and when I was done I was filled with such peace, no anger, no feelings of revenge, just peace.
When I met my husband Paul in 2007, he had warned me that his ex-wife was a handful and would cause us many problems. He made it clear from the beginning that it would be best if I never really dealt with her one-on-one. I found out that she suffers from several different mental illnesses.
In the first year being married to Paul, I wondered why this woman was so evil, why when I had always treated her with grace and respect was she always so hateful and spiteful towards me. I had many conversations with my mom about my frustrations with this woman and how it didn’t matter what I did she seemed to find a way to influence my house into chaos and negativity. I remember one day when I just felt like I couldn’t deal any longer with the chaotic life this woman seemed to constantly be causing us, my mom asked me if I had prayed for the woman. No, why would I? I haven’t done anything wrong.
Instead I prayed for myself, “Give me the strength to keep my angry thoughts to myself, give me patience to put up with this woman who clearly has no desire to ever deal with me in a civil way”. My prayers were for me, but my mom reminded me that this woman is the one who needed prayers.
So I started praying for this woman who constantly did me wrong, called me names, told lies about me, was in all ways my enemy. I prayed that her heart would be softened, that she would have joy in her life. That the demons that whispered in her ear to create chaos would be bound to the hell they came from.
For the next two and a half years, I prayed almost every day for this woman because I now saw her in a different light. I saw her as Jesus saw her, broken in spirit, joyless, loveless. My heart was so broken for her, that she clearly was lacking Jesus in her life. Even when this woman called me names or sent me terrible text messages I always responded as Jesus would have wanted me to, with love and forgiveness.
I let her know often that I was praying for her. Sometimes in her anger she would scoff at me as though I was mocking her by telling her that I was praying for her. She would respond with a quick hateful jab attacking me as a Christian. There were many times over the past few years that I wondered if God really heard me. Or maybe I wasn’t praying enough or the right way because it seemed like this woman was NEVER going to change and my prayers were never going to be answered.
In October of 2011, this woman called my husband and asked if she could come over and talk to the both of us together. I was a little skeptical, but she seemed adamant that we all talked together. With tears in her eyes she told us that she had a very spiritual experience that had changed her life. That she was so sorry for the way she had treated us the past few years and to please forgive her.
She specifically let me know that she was so sorry for purposely trying to sabotage me and my marriage that she had been angry and jealous and there was no excuse for the horrible things she had done. She said that she had not had joy or love in her life and she finally realized it was her own fault; she had been pushing the joy and love away and embracing anger and hate for far too long and she knew now how toxic she had been to herself and everyone around her. She asked me for my forgiveness which I gladly gave her.
I let her know that I truly had been praying for her, that she would find joy again. She thanked me and promised that she would never act this way again.
I was so grateful that God heard my prayers. This woman will never be the perfect friend to me, she still suffers from her illness and struggles with that, but I know without a doubt that my prayers helped her. That God took the time to listen to the prayers of one small Christian whose heart was breaking for another. It may have taken a few years before my prayers were answered but I know that it had to be in God's time not my own.
God tells us to pray without ceasing, and his promise is that he does hear and he does respond. We need to learn to be patient and wait for Gods time to answer, and when he does answer you will know without a doubt that your Savior hears you!
Matt. 5:45-50
45) Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
46) But I say unto you, love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you;
47) That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and unjust.
48) For if ye love only them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?
50) Ye are therefore commanded to be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.
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