What Do Your Pray For?

Throughout the world, people reach out to the Divine in prayer. Prayer is the language of faith through which we pour out the soul’s deepest longings, find strength and comfort, give thanks, and connect with the sacred-however we define it. Recently Beliefnet and U.S. News and World Report teamed up to conduct an online poll about prayer. More than 5600 people answered, 64% of whom said they pray more than once a day. What is it they pray for?

Just about everything. The results revealed that what people pray for ranges from requests for guidance, healing, and protection to pleas for a soulmate, a better job--or even a good parking spot.

Perhaps even more fascinating than what people pray for are the answers they get in response to their petitions. What constitutes an "answered prayer"? According to our survey, some of us believe our prayers serve to directly fulfill our wishes (overcoming an addiction, finding a misplaced object), while others believe answered prayers come in the form of intimacy with God, comfort in a time of crisis, or increased awareness of one's blessings.


We are requesting readers to "describe any times when your prayers were answered," we will publish in our articles and books of future edition.

These responses offer a fascinating glimpse into the powerful way prayer affects people's lives.