The past few days have been a challenge. I felt despair. Many prayers I’d been praying for a very long time have yet to be answered. Hope, that beautiful thing that keeps one’s heart looking forward to something, seemed dismal.
And then, I looked at my babies, just as they drifted deep into sleep. Lil K and Baby A, their tiny fingers wrapped through each other, sleeping like angels. Anyone who walked in wouldn’t believe the ruckus they were creating for a whole hour, just a second ago. I guess both angels and rascals need their sleep.
And I was jolted back to my senses. This was proof… that despair, hope, helplessness, are all but passing things. How I feel at the moment isn’t as important as what I believe.
Right there in front of me were these two souls beside me, that were an answer to years of prayer.
As I moved baby A to another bed, I challenged myself to look around with fresh eyes.
A quick walk to the window and I saw beautiful trees and a stunning moon. Answered prayer. Grass. Answered prayer. A little workspace of my own. Answered prayer. A pool and gym just down the road. Answered prayer. A ‘healthy’ baby with perfectly fine kidneys. Answered prayer. Quality time with my parents. Trustworthy help at home. Fresh baked bread delivered to doorstep. The list went on.
As my heart started singing with gratitude, I realised I’d recently been complaining about so many things that I had once prayed for. We tend to forget the miracles in the mundane.
That realization made me rethink prayer itself. Maybe it wasn’t just about asking, but about noticing. Observing. Acknowledging.
Gratitude as a Form of Prayer
So often, we think of prayer as a plea—a request, a cry for something we don’t have. But what if prayer was also a way of recognizing what we already do?
What if, instead of asking for more, we paused to say, “Thank You” for what is?
That night, I sat down, hands open, heart full, and simply whispered:
“Thank You.”
For the breath in my lungs.
For the warmth of my home.
For the chaos that means my life is full.
For the silence that follows, reminding me to be still.
For the lessons, even the hard ones.
For the strength to keep going.
And somewhere in that moment of deep, quiet gratitude, I understood something: Prayer isn’t just about what I’m waiting for—it’s about what I already have.
When we pray with a grateful heart, we shift our perspective from lack to abundance, from fear to trust, from impatience to peace. Gratitude opens the door for even more blessings—not because God suddenly decides we deserve them, but because we are now able to see them.
Remember when you longed for what you have now?”
It’s a quiet nudge, a gentle whisper to the heart. A reminder that so much of what we once desperately prayed for has quietly woven itself into our everyday lives. We just have to pause long enough to see it.
A Simple Practice for Grateful Prayer
As my heart felt heavy, I proceeded to do the following –
- Pause. I took a deep breath. And let go of the worries, just for a moment.
- Look around. I noticed three things I once wished for but now had.
- Say it out loud. I whispered a simple “Thank You”—to God, the universe, life itself.
- Write it down. I didn’t yet have a dedicated gratitude journal, so I wrote on a blank piece of printing paper. (best!)
- Feel it. I allowed gratitude to fill the space where worry used to be.
Because here’s the truth: There will always be some unanswered prayers we are waiting on. But there will also always be answered ones.
The choice is ours—which ones will we focus on?
I took a sip of my camomile tea, blew out my apple cinnamon candle and slipped under the covers feeling the warmth, the comfort, the quiet abundance in front of me.
And for the first time in days, I wasn’t just praying—I was receiving, even while waiting for my hope to become a hallelujah!
Love,
Kanika
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