If prayer really worked a lot of pregnancies wouldn't have happened. It's not an effective birth control method but probably the most common. Same as praying for a pregnancy that is wanted but never happens. Pete is a religious person and I can respect that It doesn't seem to help unfortunately.
This mode of prayer is an act of empathy. When Republicans do it, it is a cynical distraction to avoid taking action. Pete cannot be accused of that, as an advocate of gun control. For additional explanation: We pray not that it changes God, but that through it, God might change our own heart.
Petitionary prayer never has worked. Nobody likes being begged at. Hymned at. Dunned. There is another form of prayer but it’s indescribable.
When my Dad passed from Cancer it was a blessing to have his pain end. I asked God for 5 more years with my Mom who was sickly then thought no, I want 10. Mom passed 10 years later, to the day. This is as close to a prayer being answered as I've ever came and I know it to be only coincidental.
It’s true. Some prayers are answered. But we don’t know why.
A. A. uses the phrase "a higher power." It helps people who really need it . I'm good with that.
AA is ideologically rooted in The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James, which is a very good book. Also MYSTICISM, by Evelyn Underhill, and Mysticism: A Study and an Anthology, by Happold. They all explore the higher power without ecclesiastical constructs.