WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN WHEN WE PRAY?

A man dreamt he went to Heaven and an angel was showing him around. They walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. The angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions sent to God in prayer are received."

The man looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then they moved on down a long corridor until they reached the second section.

The angel then said, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." The man noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor they stopped at the door of a very small station. To the man's great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, the angel quietly admitted. He seemed embarrassed. "How is it there is no work going on here?" asked the man.

"So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."

"How does one acknowledge God's blessings?" he asked.

"Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."

"What blessings should we acknowledge?" the man again asked.

The angel replied:

• "If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
• If you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.
• If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.
• If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.
• If you can attend a church, synagogue, temple or other religious service without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.
• If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare.
• If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.

Okay, what now? How do we start?


First, count your blessings........