Listening with more than your ears

I have been struggling with prayer for quite some time. The good news is I am making some progress with this, but it has been quite slow. I have a lot of help though. Since I began rebuilding my life about 14 months ago I have been sent the most amazing group of friends. In addition I have found myself a Church I can call my own and been provided for at every turn. I have discussed this with my friends and the ministers at my Church and know that these are all answers to prayer. I may not be comfortable yet articulating my feelings to God as words or see his answers when they occur. However looking back over my life recently I can certainly see Good guiding and providing hands at work in my life. In addition to this I am constantly amazed at the way the Bible speaks to me on such a personal and individual level, and I know I am not the only one to experience this. Last night while attending a function for the Gideons I heard an amazing story. A Hindu lady working as a nurse in the middle east was given a Gideon Testament one day at work. Being a Hindu she had no desire to read it but as it was a holy book she knew she must treat it with respect and so she stored it carefully at home. Not long after the family began to experience some difficult times and her husband was at a loss at what to do. Remembering the testament she had been given she suggested her husband carried the small book in his breast pocket as a talisman for good luck. Some time passed and the couple were sat at home one evening when the husband mentioned that everything in their lives had become much better since carrying the testament with him. He then said to his wife if this book is so powerful that it can help me just by carrying it, how powerful must the words inside be. That was in 1989 and the family are now practising Christians all from the power of God's word. As I once said to the Church I grew up in, the Bible is a dangerous book because when you read it, it also reads you.