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Meditation
Meditation
Kristine Mahan / Spoon
Culture

The Power of Prayer

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter.

I grew up in a religious household and went to “Jesus school” up until ninth grade. During that entire time, I was taught the importance of religion and the church.

Although the church and organized religion is a crock of s*** (that’s a whole ‘nother article), I found out that to have your desired connection with God (or whoever you believe in) you have to pray.

For me, I pray whenever I have something serious going on in my life, need help with something, need some guidance or just want to thank him for the many blessings in my life. Yeah, sometimes I scream at him about stuff, but we’re human, right? If he can’t handle us at our worst, than who can?

To show you the power of prayer and what it can do for you, I’m going to tell you a story that still blows my mind to this day and why I truly believe that there’s a higher power out there.

Last July, my family had the biggest fight of our entire lives. To make a long story short: my boyfriend was disrespectful to my parents and they kicked him out. They then proceeded to blame me for everything, show their true colors (they’re narcissists) and blackmail me into believing that I needed to leave my boyfriend for the sake of the family. In a confused frenzy I thought that I had to break up with the love of my life, although I wasn’t sure. So, I prayed.

I prayed to God to give me a sign of what to do. Every week, I go to the races at my home track of Ransomville Speedway. So, because of that, I prayed for God to tell me if my parents, or I, were right by letting certain drivers win the next day (I prayed on Thursday). If my parents were right, I asked for the drivers that win all the time to win, and if I was right for drivers who hardly ever win to win.

The next night my prayer was answered in the most exceptional way imaginable. In the Mini Stock class, a driver who hardly ever races at Ransomville named James Gayton won. But after the car went over the scales and passed the initial post-race inspection, it was determined that it wasn’t Gayton in the car, it was Dante Mancuso.

Mancuso hadn’t raced at Ransomville during the entirety of the 2023 season and he won the race in a “whoop-a**” fashion by being half-a-track ahead of the other cars. In Victory Lane, he mentioned that the decision to race was a “spur-of-the-moment thing,” and that “something came over him.”

As I walked out of the track that night I prayed to God and thanked him for his sign. I knew then and there that I was right and that I should stay with my boyfriend. Spoiler alert: we’re still together.

In conclusion, prayer is a very powerful thing. And if you pray for the right things to happen they can give you the hope and guidance that you’re looking for. Plus, you’ll build a connection with God and who doesn’t want that?

Brooke Johnpier is a contributor to the SBU chapter of Her Campus. She writes about the more "manly" topics of the site, including automotive, motorsports, mechanical, technical, DIY, and anything hands-on. Brooke is also using this platform as her personal blog, of which she will talk about more personal things that she feels the world should hear about. Besides Her Campus, Brooke is a part-time motorsports journalist for Speedway Illustrated, a columnist for Race Pro Weekly and Dirt Track Digesr, and a staff writer as well as a social media promoter for The Podium Finish, where she is interning. Brooke is also a writer for TAPinto Greater Olean, WSBU The Buzz, and PolitiFact NY. Brooke is also involved with St. Bonaventure's literary magazine, The Laurel. Brooke is currently a sophomore at St. Bonaventure University where she is majoring in Sports Media with minors in Native American and Indigenous Studies & English. You can also find Brooke working as an assistant in the Koop Lab and upstairs in the office, making her money. In her free time, Brooke loves reading, going to the local racetrack, riding four-wheelers, working on cars, and riding in tractor trailers. Brooke is a music lover, and will talk about most any genre, especially her favorites which are rock and rap. Brooke is also a percussionist, a published author, and a women's rights activist. Brooke is also a member of several lineage organizations, and currently holds a national position in one of them. As well as writing for campus media, Brooke is involved with Faith in Fiction, Jandoli Women in Communication, the History Club, College Democrats, and the Indigenous Student Confederacy. A fun fact about Brooke is that she was the only female to ever be in the top 5% of the Automotive Technology class at the trade school she attended in her junior and senior years of high school.