The Power of Prayer: Healing, Faith & Finding Your Higher Power
- Love Your Now Comadre
- Nov 6
- 6 min read
Hola Familia,
I’ve been thinking a lot about the way we pray, the way we whisper to Higher Power when words feel too heavy. And how powerful those whispers can be. Let's talk about prayer.
Even that word —prayer — used to bug the shit out of me. How could I believe in prayer when I didn’t believe in God? As a little girl, I prayed every night for one miracle: “Please, God, make mi papi stop drinking.” I prayed my heart out. I begged. I believed. And nothing changed, until my mom found the strength and courage to leave him, and not long after, my dad died from his disease of alcoholism. And that was when I stopped believing in God. Anytime someone said that they’d pray for me, or even mentioned God, I’d lose it. I was so angry. Prayer felt like a joke. I stopped praying. I stopped talking. I stopped believing.
For years, prayer didn’t exist in my life. Then, in 2017, I did something I didn’t even recognize as prayer, I lit a candle. My first act of candle magic. Nothing big or elaborate. I didn’t think it would work… but it did. And honestly? It scared me that it did. At that time, brujería was taboo for me. Even without God, I felt like I was doing something “wrong.” That’s religious trauma for you. But still, I lit my candle, whispered a mantra to the Universe, and something shifted. When my manifestation came to life, I told myself it was a coincidence. But deep down, I wanted to start searching for something…or for someone for it all to make sense.
By late 2020, my candle rituals had turned into spoken requests. I remember saying out loud just after Lynette’s death , “Universe, I want a black female cat to represent Lynette, to help my grief.” Two days later, a black female cat came into my life.
That’s when I began to understand the true power of words. I started to see how my manifestations were really petitions. My candle rituals were really prayers.
And then I asked myself, why did those prayers work when the one I begged for as a child didn’t? The answer was control. As a kid, I wanted to control my dad’s drinking. I prayed for that part in my life I could not control as a child. As an adult, my prayer for the cat came from surrender, from asking for help with my grief. There was no was no control. I knew I needed to find God again. So I spoke to my little NettieLyn hoping she was Lynette and asked for help to find God. That’s when I started looking for God again. The more I searched, the more divine moments started showing up. The kind that makes you say, “Was it odd… or was it God?”
Like the time in early 2021 when my ex-husband and I talked about starting a family through adoption. I made my list (even named my child), lit my candle, and let it go. I started doing my research with the various types of adoptions and agencies. The agency I felt called to? Their case worker ended up being a colleague from my advocacy days. It was too divine to ignore.I knew I was in good hands. By mid 2021, I joined a 12-step program. That was when I really had to face the discomfort of hearing the word “God” again and again and again.
But then I heard Step 3:
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
As we understood Him.
That changed everything. I didn’t have to follow the God I grew up with. I could connect to a God of my own understanding. So I changed Him to Her and named her Spirit. And I began talking to my Higher Power as a Divine Feminine energy; strong, soft, and sacred. I talked to her like a friend, a mother, a goddess. And the magic? It grew louder. When I needed a sponsor in my program, my group said, “Pray on it.” I rolled my eyes, but I did it. And a few weeks later, I met the perfect sponsor for me.
Prayer works like that, it’s not about instant results, it’s about deepening trust. I started working on that trust. By the end of 2022, I was that little girl again on my knees praying. This time not praying for someone else to change, but for courage and wisdom to do what I needed to do. My marriage was falling apart. I was a new mom to two kids with trauma, and my husband was battling his own demons. All while I was desperately trying to cling on to everything we had built (honestly control more than cling).
One September night, I got down on my knees and prayed:
“I don’t know what the fuck to do, you do, so please do it. Show me. Guide me. I will do it. I am tired and I need help ”
A few weeks later, the answer came. I filed for divorce. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was what I needed. I prayed for strength, for grace, for clarity. And through it all, prayer became my anchor.
Because prayer isn’t about fancy words or perfect rituals. It’s an intimate conversation with God, GUS, Spirit, or whoever your Higher Power is. It’s a heart-to-heart with no filters, no agendas, no performance.
To this day most of my prayers sound like this:
“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, but you do. Please help me. Show me. Guide me.”
And every time, I’m reminded: courage is part of prayer too. Because fear will always try to keep us stagnant. Asking for help is an act of courage. So keeping going.
My prayer practice has evolved. It began with candle rituals, and now it’s a mix of candlelight, rosary, and meditation. Because I’ve learned:I pray to talk to GUS, and I meditate to listen.
Prayer changed everything for me. It keeps me grounded, humble, and connected to myself, to GUS, and to my purpose. Familia, prayer is powerful because it’s personal. Your words are spells. Your voice carries creation. When you speak from your heart, the Universe listens. That's the power of prayer!
Familia, prayer isn’t about being perfect. It’s about showing up when you’re a mess and whispering, “I don’t know what I’m doing, but please help me.”
Prayer is an act of trust. And here’s the thing, in order to trust a Higher Power, you must first learn to trust yourself.
That’s where most of us get stuck. Because trust, for many of us, was broken early. By trauma. By betrayal. By life.
So for the next 30 days, I’m inviting you into a challenge. One that starts with trusting your heart.
The Prayer Challenge:
Every morning for 30 days, take 3 minutes to sit quietly.
Place your hand over your heart and say out loud:
“I trust myself to listen. I trust myself to be guided.”
That’s it. That’s your prayer.
Each prayer, no matter how small, is a conversation with GUS. Whether it’s whispered through tears, muttered in frustration, or spoken with conviction, every word you offer becomes part of your healing. Prayer is how we soften control and open our hearts to grace. It’s how we let life move through us again, even when we’re scared.
Familia, I know life is tough at times, especially lately. The world can feel heavy, uncertain, and loud. Prayer is how we remember that even in the chaos, there is still a rhythm to life that we can trust. Prayer is the pause between the inhale and the exhale. It’s the quiet “thank you” after the tears. It’s the way we keep our hearts open when everything around us wants us to close.
So today, and every day after, I invite you to lean in. Light your candle. Whisper your prayer. Cry if you need to. Laugh if you can. But most of all…keep talking to your Higher Power. Because even when it feels like no one is listening… you are being heard. You are being guided. And you are so, so loved. Prayer has power and you are the power!
I love you! As always I am sending you so much Fire & Butterflies. And don’t forget to Love Your Now!!
Loving My Now,
Comadre Cristal Baez-Arellano
Spiritual Mentor / Bruja Coach
PS-If the Prayer Challenge feels hard or if trusting yourself or your Higher Power feels like a mountain right now, that’s where my mentorship, Unlocking Your Inner Comadre (UYIC), can support you.
In UYIC, we walk together through the layers of healing that keep you disconnected from trust. That pain, those patterns, that fear? We take it and transmute it to healing. We learn how to rebuild that relationship with both yourself and your Higher Power.
Because when you begin to trust you, you begin to trust GUS. And when you trust GUS, the magic begins to move again.
If you’re ready to rebuild that trust, learn more and apply for UYIC here:
Beautiful! Thank you for this message. Love... Is it Odd or is it God?