PRAYER IS NOT WHISTLING IN THE DARK

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 18, 1993                   TAG: 9302180455
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
PRAYER IS NOT WHISTLING IN THE DARK
ON FEB 2, the Commentary page published an article entitled "The healing power of song" by Adrian Blevins-Church of Fincastle. The article was very disturbing to me in that the writer felt to pray would be "to give in to desperation" when life situations are grim.
How sad to feel that prayer is a last resort in a hopeless situation, and that it is begging for divine intervention only when we are afraid and not in control.
To the person in a loving relationship with God, prayer is the first consideration. The God I worship is able to comfort and sustain far better than any earthly father, especially one who dispenses to a child "a bit of his bourbon in a favorite cartoon glass."
Blevins-Church says, "When we pray, we give up our own resolve to see a situation through to a positive end." Not so. The only positive end can come from an all-knowing and all-wise God. In our own puny, human strength, we cannot bring about a positive end.
The author may sing in defiance, but the Christian, too, can choose to sing in times of crisis. It isn't whistling in the dark, but an affirmation of faith in a loving Father who is willing and able to empower us. Experience has proved this to be true over and over in my life. BARBARA B. RAINEY MARTINSVILLE

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB