In times of uncertainty, just pray from the heart

"He fashions their hearts individually."

- Psalm 33:15 (NKJV)

At one of my speaking engagements, a woman asked me how to pray with a group of people without sounding awkward, especially when others sound so eloquent or spiritual.

As she spoke, my mind raced through the times in my younger years when I had felt the same way. I responded that the answer to her question was easy: "Just pray from your heart."

As she looked at me somewhat perplexed, I went on to further explain that, some decades ago, I was in a church drama group with a large number of attendees. At the beginning of each meeting, the pastor's wife, who ran the group, would select someone to do the opening prayer.

Being somewhat shy at the time, I would pray under my breath, "Lord, please don't let her pick me."

The thought of doing the prayer made me so anxious there were many weeks I wanted to stay home to avoid being picked. Everyone else appeared to be so eloquent in their presentation, I was concerned I might appear unspiritual.

Then the dreaded day came when I was put on the spot. Not knowing what to say, I just prayed from my heart. I asked God to help the group accomplish what it was formed to do and thanked him for the opportunity to do it. I couldn't think of anything else to add, so I ended my prayer, along with my anxiety of being in the spotlight. It was short and to the point.

Fortunately, no one ever commented on what they thought of my prayer. However, over the years, as I would look back at that experience, I realized God taught me an important lesson and was setting the groundwork for what I do today.

When I pray with a group or an individual, I realize the most important key is to just pray from the heart and keep the main thing, the main thing.

There are times I may add a passage from the Bible if it is fitting. But I believe however we pray, as long as it's from the heart, God will listen.

It's when we pretend to sound super spiritual and eloquent that we are really just trying to impress God and everyone else, rather than enlisting God's help or giving Him some glory.

I'm not saying we can't learn from others; however, we all have our unique personalities and style of prayer. We are also at different levels of spiritual maturity. So instead of trying to work out every prayer principle we may have heard, we don't need to force ourselves to do what someone else does. God will help grow our ability along the way.

Whether we're leading a presentation in the company board room or leading our group in prayer, the concepts are the same. When our knees are knocking from stage fright or we're feeling unsure inside, remembering we don't need to be shy, because God loves us right where we are and will help us accomplish the task.

• Annettee Budzban is an author, speaker, life coach, nurse and Bible teacher. Contact her for information on her Writing for Fun or Profit conference, which is Feb. 29 from noon to 3 p.m. in Libertyville. Annettee can be contacted at Annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.