Lynn,
Interesting seque here...can I share my "crisis" experience with the Lord's Prayer too?

I've believed in God all my life, and enjoyed a very strong, joyously life-giving, seemingly unshakeable faith for over 40 years. Never needed "signs", although I did have incredibly wonderful dreams that always seemed to speak whatever wisdom I needed at just the right time, even through my depression years. I just always believed.

Then my Dad died. And I mentioned in another post somewhere that the continuing absence of any sense of connectedness beyond his death devastated me, and threw me into a whirling maelstrom of doubt and crisis of faith. A crisis I'm still wrestling with, although I find that I'm closer to a more unconditional belief and love for God than ever before. It has become a deliberate choice to accept Him for who/what He chooses to be, and not insist He be who/what I want Him to be. To let God be God and let go of my paintbrush, which always wants to paint Him the way I think He should look and behave.

All through that crisis of faith, no matter how lost and, well, to be honest, even disgusted I became (Dad's death, 9/11, my Mom's death, etc, etc) with His apparent inactivity and silence, I never lost my profound desire to "come back Home", but couldn't get past my anger, and had to work hard to not let myself get completely lost. Praying became almost impossible, because I could no longer "look Him in the eye". All I could say was a very bitter "How could You let this happen? Where were You?" And then a montonous litany of tired "I'm sorry"'s.

Until one day I remembered the Lord's Prayer. Such a simple basic prayer, one recited so often since early childhood that it had become rote and meaningless. But all of a sudden it became my only link, my lifeline to something, someone I desperately didn't want to lose. It still is my strongest link, along with the wonderful caring church community that we found just before Mom died.

Now I've rediscovered the power in that simple prayer, and the caring compassion of a God who would give us such a perfect prayer for those times when we just don't know what else to say.