Wake Up with Susan

The Power of Prayer

• Susan Sutherland

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Prayer and focused intention have transformative power as is documented by Lynn McTaggert in the "The Power of Eight" and many studies done by the Mahrishi Institute.  When Hurricane Helene hit the North Carolina mountains, it left a trail of devastation in its wake. This episode uncovers the urgent need for both heartfelt prayer and tangible aid during such crises.

I also share how my prayer practice has evolved, becoming a more personal and conversational relationship with God and the key components for what I feel is effective prayer. My daily dialogue has provided guidance, a deeper sense of connection, a steadfast faith in the unconditional love of the Creator, and comfort when things feel out of control.

When we feel like we can't do enough, we can still pray.  Join me in embracing the power of prayer as a tool for unity, comfort, healing and resilience.

Speaker 1:

Rise and shine everybody. It's time to wake up with Susan. Spiritual awakening can be a beautiful, messy and sometimes lonely journey, so let's do it together. I'm your host, susan Sutherland. I'm an intuitive healer and spiritual mentor. We are all called to rise up above our conditioning and limiting beliefs and shine our light on ourselves and others. So let's get to it. Hi, family, thanks for joining me today.

Speaker 1:

Today we are going to talk about the power of prayer. A lot of times we're talking about meditation, which is really the listening, but prayer is when we submit our request, when we ask for help, when we ask for guidance. And I've got a big one for you this week, helene. Hurricane Helene just came through, and I am a beach house owner in the North Carolina coast.

Speaker 1:

Hurricane season is usually a busy time for us, anticipating and watching storms and seeing how how we will be impacted. And this one was a bit of a doozy because it chose not to come up the coastline, where we have houses built on stilts, where we have flat lands, that kind of you know flood, and then it goes away. This storm came through our mountains and we are only just now seeing the utter devastation experienced in these communities that have cabins that are on the ground, but also have rivers and creeks and waterfalls and lakes and mountains that had this water raging raging down, ripping up the highways, demolishing bridges, wiping out entire towns, and it wiped out, you know, the entire communication grid, and so it took several days before some of the pictures and videos of the aftermath started coming through. But it is truly heartbreaking to see the damage, to see our beautiful mountain communities, right as we are entering peak season, where everyone is called to go to our mountains because of the glorious trees. Everyone is called to go to our mountains because of the glorious trees and there is just there is nothing better than our mountains in the fall, and these communities were demolished. They are underwater, they are broken. A lot of people are not only without power and without water, but without means to have rescue services get to them. The road systems were ruined and there are people without food, without medication, and it is truly a sad situation situation. That being said, I know these kind of situations happen in other communities and it may not feel as devastating when it is not as close, but power of prayer is something we all need to learn how to do, and how to do it in groups because it is that intentional bringing forth of energy and amplifying in such a way.

Speaker 1:

It is the magnifying glass that allows the sun's rays to not just be warm but create fire. By using a magnifying glass, we amplify energy in such a way and that is what the power of group prayer, group intention, can really do. I believe that I talked to you about Lynn McTaggart when I came back in January from the Consciousness Evolution Conference that I went to. She has a book called the Power of Eight and it is about healing circles that have eight people and you have one specific person you have a group intention for and you sit and even if it's done remotely or you sit in a circle, your intention is that you are there in a circle around the person who is receiving the healing and for five to 10 minutes you all have the shared thought of sending healing to that person, and she wrote a book to provide evidence of this effectiveness. Maharishi University has also done scientific studies about using monks in communities to alleviate crime issues or other economic issues or struggles that a community is having, when you have monks with the intention of sitting there to help reduce not just sitting there, sitting there in meditation and prayer to reduce a specific event. There's actual scientific data showing the effectiveness of this, and so today I want to talk about prayer because it's so valuable.

Speaker 1:

And I think I don't know I'm judging our entire culture based on kind of what my experience is, and that's not fair. But what I see a lot of is thoughts and prayers. Something happens and we say thoughts and prayers and even if there's good intention behind it, was there prayer or did we just type up thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers for you? And so I've gotten to where I try to never write that If I am not going to then take some time and truly say a prayer and send healing for that person, because the words are just words without feeling. So I want to talk about prayer today because I think we have gotten in the thoughts and prayers, sending thoughts and prayers, kind of habit and we really need to be using the power of prayer to heal, to send love, to really lift others up, because there is so much power in that intention and how we are able to assist.

Speaker 1:

Now, these areas need food, they need gas, they need disposable wipes, they need pet food. If you have supplies and money to send them, please do, but you can still pray. And if you don't have those things, you can still pray, and so I do want to talk about that. Um, I think prayer can be an excellent answer when you don't feel like you are able to assist in something going on. It is never for me. I don't want to put my prayer energy to what I don't want. I am never going to pray to amplify what I'm trying to get rid of. And so, even if I am praying for a region in conflict, I will be praying for angels to deliver peace and understanding and compassion to the government leaders, or praying for compassion and healing for those involved. But I am careful. Y'all know what. This is kind of a serious episode, but I'm going to go ahead and tell you a little story about when you are negligent with where your focus is going.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you know that I spent 17 hours at the DMV with no license because my son was not eligible. Yet they changed the rules. We had to go back. So we went back on September 19th and he passed his exam. He has his license. He drove himself to school and I Ubered home like a good mom. Uber on home, mom, I'm done. That's only because we live 30 minutes from the school, so it made no sense for him to drive me home and then drive back to school anyway.

Speaker 1:

So over the next week, what happened? I'm telling people that Dashiell got his driver's license and the conversation goes to teenage drivers and basically how awful they are. Oh, teenage drivers. I know this person's been in a wreck. This person's been in two wrecks. There was so much talk about teens and wrecks and all of this kind of stuff, right?

Speaker 1:

So maybe 10 days later I'm driving and my daughter's in the car. We've gone on an errand and we're coming back and we're about to make a right and there's a car in front of us and we just have to turn right on kind of a busy road. But he's got a gap to turn right. So I looked to see if it was a gap big enough for two cars and it was. So I started pulling forward and home, dude had got. He had not gone anywhere. I rolled into the back of him like what in in the world? There was room enough for both of us to go. But there he sat.

Speaker 1:

Not his fault, because who, who, me, me I had done that. I had put so much energy into stupid teenage accidents. And that's exactly what this was. Never would I pull forward without looking to see if there's a car there. I can't tell you. I think the last time I was responsible for an accident was 14 years ago. But here I am because for the week and a half leading up to this, that's what I've been talking about. That's what I had been talking about. The guy was really nice. You know, dolly, my beautiful car. I just had to wipe her little nose, wipe his white paint off her nose. But now I get to buy him a trunk, which is no longer a small thing because of reverse cameras and sensors and all of that. Back in the day I think you could just buy a new panel and carry about your business, and now it's this whole operation. But I did that to me. I'm gonna go ahead and tell you. I claim that it was not his fault. It was. It was my fault. I had put so much energy into stupid little accidents that I had to have one. And let me tell you I learned my lesson.

Speaker 1:

So when I pray, I can promise you I am very conscious about not contributing the energy to what I do not want. So let me tell you some other ways. I pray because I want you to start seeing it as an opportunity to have a conversation with God and I think one of the best things that happened for me over the past couple years partly because of A Course in Miracles and kind of Jesus walking me through the nope didn't mean that nope didn't mean that part of my Christian upbringing, but it is also going from having this not even fearful relationship with God, but more of a true friendship with God, more of a. We have a two-way dialogue going on here and I have a voice, I have something to say and I feel really comfortable saying, hey, god, we gotta have a talk, like, let's have a talk. I need something to say and I feel really comfortable saying, hey, god, we gotta have a talk, like, let's have a talk. I need to understand what's going on or there's something really on my heart. Help me understand.

Speaker 1:

And having that open dialogue where I feel like I can just riff on God, you know, and feel really comfortable that I don't need to say things in a specific way. I don't have to be, you know, I don't know super formal or reverent. I can speak how I speak and it'd be comfortable because there's no tricking him anyway, and so if I'm driving down the street, I could be talking to my angels, I could be talking to God, I could be talking to myself. Rarely would I be talking to somebody else, because if I am talking to somebody else and sometimes when I'm talking to my angels too, I will drive straight past the exit and keep on going and then be like because somehow I lose my mind in conversation and miss my turn. Because somehow I lose my mind in conversation and miss my turn, but I'm usually talking. So it has been a really awesome way for me to feel supported and heard.

Speaker 1:

No longer do I just have to live this life and wonder what's going on. But I have a voice in it, I have a say in it. It can be like oh okay, this is what's going on. A voice in it, I have a say in it. It can be like oh okay, this is what's going on. But it's why I meditate and it's why I pray is to have this really open dialogue, because I do see God as my source and my creator, but also I see me as the co-creator, that um, for better or worse, we have free will and um, and we're free to screw this up as much as as we possibly could, and so I understand my part in creating my life and and want that interchange with God.

Speaker 1:

So Mark traveled the whole week last week and I go to bed earlier than most of my kids and I was in the bed and I hear the door open. Well, I actually didn't hear the door open, but my son ended up saying mom, and I was like, yeah, what do you need? He's like are you talking to yourself? It was like, well, dad's gone so I could pray out loud, where normally maybe I would just lay and think my prayer in my head. But he's not here, so I'm just having a chat with God. So he asked what he needed and he carried on, but I was really excited that he caught me in that moment because I really want him to also have an open dialogue with God, like this is. It's not just on your knees and say the prayer that you were taught to to pray and not have the feeling in it, but have a friendship with God where you can have this conversation. That's really important to me.

Speaker 1:

So some other things about prayer for me is when I am praying for someone, for a community, for someone that is experiencing illness. That is somebody maybe I'm in conflict with, whatever it is. I understand that they are not victims, and that's really a tricky one when you see the kind of devastation that occurred in Florida, georgia, north Carolina and Tennessee with this hurricane or anywhere when we have a natural disaster, it is really hard to understand that they are not victims. What I do know, like I know, like I know, like I know, is that our soul participates in choosing for us our learning opportunities that are, you know, either for energetic balancing of something we have experienced before or for our soul's growth. And I also know that perhaps some of them just signed up for devastation, for us to allow ourselves to experience generosity and compassion and outreach to other people, to really flex ourselves in that way. And you need somebody to be on the receiving end of that.

Speaker 1:

What I do trust is I don't know the full picture. I trust that my limited perspective, through the eyes of Susan, cannot understand. I cannot understand why it's needed, I cannot understand what can come of it, but I do remind myself that my hardest hits, my biggest losses, my biggest struggles and challenges have with time and distance and healing been catalyst for improvement, been a stepping stone in whatever way way and I know just a couple of weeks ago we had 9-11, where a lot of people were reflecting on how unified we were on September 12th, that we haven't had that kind of unity in so long that we came together. And it didn't seem like it was about political parties or you know where you're from or what you do. It was all about joining together to really help and heal that trauma, that devastation that we experienced collectively.

Speaker 1:

And this time we don't have an adversary, we don't have an impending war. We don't have an impending war. We have communities who need us to rally a cake and then, when God gives them batter and eggs and oil and icing a pan and an oven, they get frustrated and leave the kitchen. And isn't that the case? And so I know that I have prayed for unity in this country, for peace and love to be more at the center of our heart than the vitriol that we have been experiencing through this presidential campaign, and so I am trying not to look at the flour and the sugar and the oil and understand it as anything, but for our opportunity to come together and to be unified and support these people.

Speaker 1:

There were a lot of lives lost, and I don't think we can even begin to understand that yet, because there are still so many missing people, and I know that it is comforting to me to know that this isn't the last rodeo for them, that their soul must have the next phase of their journey lined up, that they have something more that they are looking to go and do, and I understand that. I don't know what that is. And so who is left hurting are the people here, and that's our opportunity to send love, to send prayers, but not the prayers of words, but the prayers of feelings, where you feel it deep in your heart that you are sending love to these people, and that is our opportunity to lift them up and help them. All right, it is really important to remember that we do have free will. So so much support and love and help and guidance and assistance available to us on the other side, it is only done when we request it, and so when you pray, when you're riding down the highway, when you're riding down the highway, don't forget to ask your angels to assist in the matter, ask your ascended master that you feel connected to saints, jesus, anyone that you know could be of assistance to you. Ask for help. So when you are praying, ask for help help. So when you are praying, ask for help.

Speaker 1:

I know for me, when I am praying for someone's healing who is experiencing illness, first of all, I understand the illness is the physical manifestation of another problem. So the illness, I don't choose to pray specifically for that illness. I pray for the healing of the spiritual cause. What is the emotional blockage they are experiencing? That their physical body is screaming at them about? That their physical body is trying to get their attention through illness. And I know there is somebody that is experiencing illness that has manifested because of anger. So when I pray for him, I see him in a healing white light. I put a white light around him and then I ask Archangel Michael to come and remove cement blocks that I call it an anger wall that is in his mind. Right, he's got an anger wall in his mind and I asked Archangel Michael to come and remove blocks from that anger wall. And so it is not about alleviating the illness that he has, but really trying to heal the root of the problem.

Speaker 1:

If you don't have information about what the root of the problem would be. All you have to do is ask for the highest healing available to them, and that is a very general way to get right at the core of whatever is going on. It could be that they still need to learn through that experience, and so, unfortunately, we don't get to determine the outcome or what is the highest healing, because we are here to learn, needing assistance, or I mean, there's so many, so many areas that illness can be used for our growth. In experiencing dependency, whatever it is, we can't begin to know what the highest healing for them is. We have to have trust and faith that our prayer is heard and going to be experienced by the one who is receiving that love, and so there is a lot of faith involved. But I have it, so I really hope that you do too.

Speaker 1:

All right, so a couple more things about how I pray, or some kind of keys for prayer. For me is number one. I begin with gratitude. If I am praying, it means I have breath. If I have nothing else but this breath, I will be grateful for that, and I do acknowledge that sitting in my house with power, with utilities and with food, it makes that easier to say than if I've been wiped out of everything but my breath. But I do start there. I start with the gratitude for my breath and then perhaps go on a little rampage, because having gratitude in prayer puts me at the state of true connection with the divine. It elevates my frequency and I just see it as as more of a direct channel for my requests that's coming. It's like let me direct dial source with this gratitude, so then I can be like but also could you All right, because there is only now.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't matter when you are listening to this podcast. You are listening to it with anyone else whose ears find its way, which means we have the power of group prayer here with us together. So I do want you to take prayer with you, put it in your pocket, start using it. Prayer doesn't have to be that formal, scripted, you know, recited thing you did when you were little. It can be a conversation with the creator. It can be a dialogue that you have with a friend Like this is how I'm creating. Let's do this together and having that friendship with God, having that relationship with God, allows so much peace and acceptance for what is going on in your life and trust that when you ask, it's going to be heard.

Speaker 1:

Now again, you might get the ingredients and not the baked cake, but you understand that you have invoked God's support. You can invoke your angel support. You can be completely supported on this journey. And if they're're like, hey, you are a baker, I am giving you ingredients, bake that cake. Understand that that is all divinely placed for you and be on the lookout for your ingredients. If the cake comes already made, it may hit you square in the face, and that's not what we're looking for. We are looking for the divine next steps.

Speaker 1:

But to be part of the conversation, to be intentionally planning what we are experiencing, is really important, and it really helps in times of trouble to know you have somewhere to go To express your grief and your sorrow. To lay your worries down at God's feet is a much lighter way to live. I give you my problems and I know that, however, is best for my experience and my journey. It may not be what I would consciously choose, but I know that it must be best for where I am and where I am headed, and allowing that surrender is a beautiful way to live, and so I really invite you, if you don't have a prayer practice, give it a try. Give it a try. Just an open dialogue with God. Say thank you, invoke your angels, express your heart exactly as you would talk to a friend it doesn't have to be formal, it doesn't have to be anything and then see if you can feel that in your heart when you are praying for someone else. Put them in your heart and send them that energy, that love, that healing. We are conduits for God's love energy and we can embrace others with that as well, others with that as well.

Speaker 1:

So, because we have this moment together in the ever present now, I am going to ask that you join me in prayer. If you are driving, then, as we take a couple deep breaths, just allow your awareness to drop into your heart, pay attention to the road, but allow your feeling to be in your heart. If you are just listening and can take a minute to not only drop in your heart but close your eyes, then I would love for you to do so. And so we'll just take a couple of deep breaths, in through our nose and out through our mouth, out through our mouth, and I'd just like to do this to calm down the day to center ourself and set the intention of really being in connection with God in this moment. In through your nose, out through your nose, out through your mouth. And this time go in through your nose and, as you go out through your mouth, just allow that awareness to drop into your heart. And now I'll speak these words with my heart.

Speaker 1:

Dear God, I thank you today for my breath, for my health and my safety and that of those who are listening. I thank you for my power and my utility so that I can record and share this message, and I thank you for the faith that experience has allowed me to hold steadfast that this prayer will indeed be heard. There are individuals, families, neighborhoods, entire communities who have been devastated by the hurricane. Life as they knew it was literally washed away. I ask that an army of angels come to assist in the recovery and rebuilding. Allow your presence to fill the hearts of those in mourning and experiencing such loss.

Speaker 1:

Mourning and experiencing such loss Allow those of us that can send supplies to work efficiently, with a oneness that only tragedy seems to ignite in us. Let us, in time, know that nothing that is everlasting would or could ever be lost and, in time, that which can be replaced and rebuilt will be done with a foundation of love. I ask that I be a channel of love and peace and that this energy is for the highest healing for my brothers and sisters, the animals in the communities impacted by Helene. Thank you for hearing our prayer, for allowing us to come in community and join together to serve in this way. Amen, and I thank you, friends, for joining me, for sending that prayer to all those that are in need and, by using prayer to lift your vibration, to send love and healing throughout the world.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for what you do and thanks for listening. I love you. See you back next week. Thank you so much for joining me this week. Be sure to not miss any upcoming episodes by subscribing to the podcast. That way, it's available automatically in your RSS feed. This is a crazy journey. Let's do it together.

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Susan Sutherland

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