Prayer. It’s our connection to God and sometimes I forget the power behind the words that I pray.

Last week Mr. Diamond and I were on a business road trip.  We had stops all over Florida and it was supposed to be a bit of fun for me.  People often wonder what I do when I travel with him.  I guess it is a legitimate question.  I read a lot, write letters, write blog posts and just generally chill out.

This trip was a little different because I was not feeling my best.  Insert sad face.

I had something going on in my mouth that was not normal or fun.  Without going into too many details let’s just say the left side of my mouth was on fire.  To the point that I could not chew or even touch my teeth.  I started popping Extra Strength Tylenol and soldiered on since it was the weekend.

We started looking for emergency dentists and I was ready to just cut that part of my head off. My fun trip had turned into not so much fun.

But I prayed about it.  I asked a few others to pray because it was going to be a very long week and I did not look forward to having a dental procedure done away from home.

After the weekend passed I realized that the pain had settled down.  It was tolerable. And then it disappeared.  Just about as quickly as it had set on it disappeared.  I quipped to a friend that my prayers must have worked.

And then later I realized.  My prayers did work.  Which made me think about how I pray.  If I was so surprised that my prayers were heard where was my faith?

It kind of slapped me in the face.  If I pray and believe that God hears me why was I so surprised and reluctant to believe that my prayers were heard and answered?  Oh, me of little faith.

It just goes to show me that I am continually learning.

So what is the explanation?  I have my theories.   There is a lot of stress in my life right now and I suspect that the mouth pain may have been due to teeth grinding or some other stress related action.  Or it could be more of a tooth issue (which of course I am following up with my local dentist) but whatever it is I am so grateful that my prayers were heard and answered.

So I continue to learn.  I continue to realize that I don’t have it all figured out.  I continue to realize every single minute that God is just a prayer away and He DOES hear me.  I continue to seek Him and realize that sometimes He has to jolt me into realizing that my prayers can indeed make a difference.

Have you ever had an answered prayer that you didn’t fully embrace as an answered prayer?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.  Remember all comments this month mean a 50 cent donation to our Comments for a Cause — ASPCA.