When you’re praying, do you ever feel that God is far away, just out of earshot?
In a recent episode of LDS Living’s podcast Out of the Best Books, author Wendy Ulrich shared an impression she received years ago that transformed her perception of God’s presence during prayer.
Are We Pushing God Away?
Though she’d had meaningful experiences with God in the past, Wendy saw Him as a figure who came around when He felt like it and was rarely there when she really needed Him.
“I felt for decades in my life that I was sort of pounding on the door and wondering why God wasn’t answering,” she explains.
But one day, her perspective shifted.
“I was standing in my little office at home and looking out the window and praying,” she says. “I don’t remember what I was praying about. It wasn’t anything important, particularly, but I was praying, and it seemed like a good thing to be doing. I then felt this little voice in my head say, ‘Why do you keep me so far away?’”
Wendy was surprised at the question, and her immediate impulse was to push against it. Hadn’t she been knocking?
“Then I sat and thought about it for a second,” she says. “I realized that, as I was praying, I was looking deep into outer space. That voice was right in my head, but that was not how I was approaching God when I was praying. I was acting like He was a million miles away.”
Wendy considered the subconscious reasons she might be doing this: Did she keep God far away because she found it safer to blame Him for things? Was she worried about what He might ask of her? Was she afraid that, if she had a meaningful spiritual experience, it might be followed by an increase in trials?
Invite God to Sit with You
Regardless of the reasons why she’d been pushing Him away, Wendy resolved to let God in by doing one thing: she began imagining Him close by.
“[I decided] to let any empty chair next to me, any place I am, become my reminder,” Wendy explains. “It’s my cue to say, ‘Will you come sit by me?’”
She started doing this in restaurants, in the temple, at church, at home, or in another person’s home while ministering. Upon seeing an empty chair, she’d invite God into her presence. It became a prayerful act of trust, where she’d tell Him, “Let me trust that you’re not going to overwhelm me. You’re not going to ask me to do things I can’t do. You’re going to be with me. You’re going to help me.”
Like Wendy, you can invite God to sit in empty chairs you may encounter. You can also visualize Him next to you as you pray.
Over time, Wendy has learned that, when she invites God to be with her, He comes.
“He doesn’t always have a lot to say,” she says. “But I believe He comes.”
More articles for you about prayer:
▶ An unexpected way to be like Christ: spend time alone
▶ Your prayers will be more meaningful if you do this first
▶ What this Hebrew word teaches us about Christ’s nature
