How to Turn Towards God

It's simple, really. God wants to be known. God, the Creator of the Universe, is available to us for counsel and respite from this crazy world on a daily basis. How to start? Turn towards God and pray.

Baha'i texts instruct us to pray right away in the morning and last thing at night. It's not the kind of praying you do when you are in big trouble and plead with God for help. It's intentional prayer and meditation. It's not praying the same drudgery of a practice session every day just to get it over with, like piano lessons. It's up to you to keep it fresh, just like any relationship, both parties have a part to play.

Praying every day takes your life to a new level. When something horrific happens in the world, which lately is every single day, instead of taking in a problem that I can't solve, I deflect it to God. It's His will that is playing out on our plane, and instead of fighting it, if we surrender and let God take over, it removes a whole lot of existential anxiety. When you know the Creator, you are never alone.

The Baha'i faith is a meta religion that encompasses all religions that have come before it, so I have the option to find prayers I love from any religion. As well as anonymous prayers, humorous prayers, anxiety-reducing prayers, or any prayer I love, I write them down in a book small enough to take with me wherever I go. I can make up my own prayers, too.

Memorizing a few prayers is a good strategy to kickstart your prayer practice. The Baha'i faith has a plethora of prayers available at https://www.bahaiprayers.org. There are prayers for every situation in life. The unique thing about Baha'i prayers is they were written down in the instant they were revealed, instead of decades later, as was the case in Christianity and earlier religions. Baha'i prayers come directly from the mouth of God, filtered through the Prophet, so humanity can understand and use them to change the world.

The real beauty of Baha'i prayer is that anything you love to do, that comes from your soul, counts as worship, and therefore prayer. When I drew the illustration of the fists turned towards each other for this piece, it counted as prayer. When my husband photographed it for me, that counted too.

The metaphor of the illustration is this: God is always there, like the fist on the right. You, the fist on the left, have the free will to turn away, and choose not to include God in your life. But He is still there, waiting for you to see the light and turn towards Him.

Do you feel that God abandoned you? I did. In my childhood, the Christian faith (and my family) was besmirched by hypocracy, cruelty and racism. It wasn't until a dear friend had a serious brain event that I started praying every day, but six months later she was nearly fully recovered. Right after that, a close relative developed stage 3 cancer, I knew just what to do; my prayer practice was established and I felt like my prayers were joined with and strengthened by the prayers of others.

A committed prayer practice, done daily, is all it takes to have a fulfilling relationship with the Creator and take your life to the next level. Here are some resources on praying and prayer:

https://www.bahaiprayers.org This began as a service project and has grown to offer prayers in many languages. The prayers are categorized. The Midnight Prayer was my personal gateway prayer.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeKEuVXQmYcR0xvBLzCfZ3Nigdcpeuvo1 is a youtube list of Baha'i prayers and songs.

There is a free app called Baha'i Prayers in the App Store. When you have prayers on your phone, you are never alone.

1-800-22UNITE is the Bah'i hotline. Here is where you can connect with Baha'is in near you.

If the heart turns away from the blessings God offers how can it hope for happiness? If it does not put its hope and trust in God’s Mercy, where can it find rest? Oh, trust in God! for His Bounty is everlasting, and in His Blessings, for they are superb. Oh! put your faith in the Almighty, for He faileth not and His goodness endureth forever! His Sun giveth Light continually, and the Clouds of His Mercy are full of the Waters of Compassion with which He waters the hearts of all who trust in Him. His refreshing Breeze ever carries healing in its wings to the parched souls of men! Is it wise to turn away from such a loving Father, Who showers His blessings upon us, and to choose rather to be slaves of matter?

from the Writings and Talks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá