Help With Davening Stories

I just heard a nice story that might help you:

There was a father with his daughter and son on a boat, the boat turned over and they were all stuck in the ocean. The father took a child in each of his arms and just swam, they did not sea land so they just kept swimming. At a point the father realized there was no way he would be able to make it with both of his children because he would just faint and they would all die, he knew the halacha was that he has to save his ons so he told his daughter he would have to leave her behind. He left her, and she kept yelling, screaming and crying. The father could not deal hearing his child in such pain so he went back and picked her up again, made it to shore, and they all fainted because they had no energy left. When they woke up the daughter asked her father how he did that. He said I could not handle hearing your pains I just had to get you.

Hashem carries all our sins, at point he feels like he cant hold all our avayros anymore, but if we daven, we cry out to help, scream, we need HaShems help, he will not be able to hear his children in such pain so he will come to our aid. Hope this helps

The story is a famous one, and was told about one of the talmidei Hagra on his trip to E”Y. I heard the name, but have since forgotten. A little research should turn up this information.

Rabbi P. Krohn said over this story in a drasha. After the drasha one of the local rabonim told him it is brought in the hakdama of Peas Hashulchan (I have not had a chance to look for it there). The Rov then showed me the story in a Sefer on Yamim Noraim. The name of the person in the story is Rav Yishaya Bardaki, one of the talmidim of Rav Chaim Volozhen.

A friends, brothers, kid, needed shoes and he didnt have the money to buy them. during shma koleinu, he said the tefila for parnasah and had in mind money for his kids shoes. as soon as Mincha was over he met a relative who said “I never gave you a baby present” and gave him a 200 nis bill more than enough to cover the cost of shoes.

Gila, When you Daven, you always get results. You don’t always see what the results are, but Hashem always answers. Sometimes it takes a long time before you see it. (And sometimes Hashem says no to our requests.)

The point of davening is to get closer to Hashem and make a bond with Him. you actually get schar for asking. yes even if you dont get what you want the fact that you turn to Hashem and ask for things makes it show that you realize THE ONE AND ONLY source for everything is Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

By you turning to Him and showing that you rely on Him it make s that conncection and brings you closer to Him. When you bring yourself closer to him it opens the wellsprings of bracha to come flow onto you and makes you recieve.

There are many reasons why we might not get what we ask for. Sometimes Hashem says, Sheifala, you don’t realize it but in the long run that may not be the best for you. Other times Hashem wants you to get even greater than you are asking for and the more you have to ask and the longer and harder it is the greater your tefilos will be and the result in the end may be greater than you ever would have imagined.

I suggest starting a very simple short learning session on davening. “Praying with fire” I found to be amazing, as it is a short lesson a day and has tremendously improved my davening although I have a massively far way to still go. But my davening is not the same.

ALSO…

I recently experienced a situation where I cried my heart out for Hashem to just answer my tefilla. I couldn’t understand why Hashem wasn’t answering me with the kavana I had thrown into those tefilos… believe me, I never thought it was possible to daven like that till I did it! And yet I felt unanswered and ignored. Soon after I realized that I was being answered and I had let it slip right under my nose. i can’t go into more details but MAN, WAS I ANSWERED!!

I daily struggle with different things, petty, and life size, and day in day out I daven hard and sometimes it feels like… Hashem where are you this time?????

BUT I KNOW HE IS THERE AND LISTENING!!! I picture a string attaching me at my heart to the Kisai Hakavod and I just think, ok, at least I am getting a direct kesher with the highest protexia. Thats the main thing anyhow. And Hashem answers, just in different ways and different times and different expressions than we may have pictured.

Hatzlacha…. May Hashem answer all your tefilos L’toivah!

A while back i took some girls for a bracha to a Rav who came to the states from E”Y. He spoke only Yiddish or Hebrew and they spoke English so I had to translate. They also said that they daven but they don’t seem to feel their tefilos are being answered. He asked them if they would like a drink and told them to cup their hands. He was about to pour seltzer in their hands and then stopped and asked if the water would stay or drip out between their fingers?

He explained that the hands are not a vessel to hold the water because their are spaces and holes between the fingers. If the heart has holes in it, which is the lack of bitachon and emunah that Hahsem will answer their tefilos then no matter how much they daven and how much Hashem gives there is nothing to hold it, it will keep seeping out and can never be filled.

Rabbi Lawrence Kellemen has a shiur you can hear online about when his son was born. He talks about the feeling that he’s davening and nobody is listening. It’s very inspirational.