Prayer

My Sunday was depressing in a way. Why? My heart was with those parents and friends and classmates and those terrorists that were involved in the attacks of School 1 in Beslan, Russia. Not only that, but during church not once was this issue ever mentioned or prayed over. When one prayed it was all about AMERICA. Now I'm not against praying for America (we need to be on our knees for our country), but when we call on our Lord to thank him for OUR freedom, and OUR liberty, and OUR courage, it is near-sighted. The person prayed for OUR troops and for OUR safety. Aren't there other troops that are fighting in the Middle East such as British troops, Iraqi troops, and what about praying for the insurgents of these attacks? What about praying for actual peace to reign instead of keeping OUR guys and girls safe while we kill everyone against OUR agenda?

Please don't take my comments to belittle this person's prayer or to say God didn't hear him. May God have mercy on me whenever I step in and say someone's prayer is wrong. Trust me, there have been times when my mouth is moving but there is no heart involved, or I'm praying to please the crowd. I'm still learning how to pray and converse with God. I just want us to remove our nationalistic lens and see the world (not just America) and people (not just Americans) as God's beautiful creation.

My question then to you all is...What does prayer mean to you? How do you view prayer? Was something ever answer in prayer that you didn't expect? Or maybe something didn't happen that you asked for? What Scripture or quote or example puts prayer into perspective for you? Whom have you learned prayer from?