Welcome to the daily Chizuk (encouragement). Never underestimate the power of tefillah (prayer).
When the Ktav Sofer was the rabbi of Pressburg, the authorities were going to hang an innocent Jew for a crime that he didn’t commit. The Ktav Sofer tried everything he could to save him, but nothing worked. The night before the hanging, the Ktav Sofer was in his house, out of ideas, and he cried himself to sleep. His father, the Chatam Sofer, appeared to him in a dream with an angry face and said, “How could you sleep when an innocent man who has a wife and children is going to be put to death?” The Ktav Sofer said back, “What should I do? I tried everything.” His father said, “Why aren’t you praying? Pray, pray; praying brings salvation.” The Ktav Sofer got up in haste. He gathered the townspeople, and they gathered in the shul (synagogue) to pray. They prayed the entire night, and miraculously, right before the hanging, the judge agreed to investigate further, and the man’s life was saved.
Tefillah works, especially when a person is in pain, as the Pasuk (verse) says. I read a story of a woman who we’ll call Esther. She was going in for a C-section, and she had horrible experiences with her previous childbirths. She called her friend, who also had troubles with delivering, for some Chizuk. In fact, after her second C-section, this friend was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, Lo Aleinu. But Baruch Hashem, after many tefillot and a year of heart-wrenching treatment, she was proclaimed cancer-free. Unfortunately, however, the drugs they had used were so strong that she was told there was only a 10% chance that she would ever become pregnant again. This friend asked Esther, “What are you going to do when you have pain during the delivery now?” Esther said, “I guess I’ll have to bear it.” Her friend said, “No, every time you have pain, please pray for me to have more children.” Esther thought, “Who am I to pray for you?” But as she was delivering, she heard the words echoing in her head: “The pain is here regardless. You might as well use it for something worthwhile.” And she prayed each time she experienced pain, both during the surgery and during the recovery. And Baruch Hashem, three weeks later, her friend became pregnant.
Somebody called me last week. He said his wife was having trouble getting pregnant. She didn’t get married until she was older, and she was very worried. Her whole life, all she wanted was to start a family, and now it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. They went to doctors, but nothing worked. One Shabbat, they were in shul, and the rabbi delivered a very strong speech on the power of tefillah. The woman, who wasn’t that religious, told her husband, “I want to start praying.” Her husband said, “That’s a great idea, and let’s accept upon ourselves something else as an additional merit.” And they agreed: from now on, they would only eat out in kosher (ritually permissible) restaurants. The woman started to pray every day, and just one month later, she became pregnant. They went to the doctor, and the doctor said, “Good news, you will be having twins.” The couple was overjoyed. They came back to the car, but they were being blocked in. The husband looked up at the ambulette that was blocking them, and it said in big letters, “Twins Ambulette.” He couldn’t believe it. He had never seen this in his life. It was like Hashem was telling him, “I gave you these twins.” As the ambulette was pulling away, the man took a picture to always remember how Hashem was talking to him. Anyone interested can view the picture attached to today’s email.
One more quick story. A man I know who was a contractor told me that he put in a bid for a certain job that he really wanted, but he was turned down. A month later, he was praying Shacharit (morning prayer service), and he asked Hashem for a job to come his way. And he said, “Hashem, I know you could even give me the job that I was turned down for.” Twenty minutes later, he got a call from that job. The man said, “I reconsidered, and I decided to use you.” Hashem is close to all those who call Him, as long as you call out sincerely. Have a great day.