An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

Chapter 2, without taking some positive steps first to make herself better. By adoptingthe sick role she could have got some sympathy from friends, family and workcolleagues. They would find it easier to accept that she could not function fully in sometasks, such as lifting and carrying, although she could continue to perform other tasksunaffected by her specific back problem.There are similarities between respondent 2‟s account of prayer for healing with how theparticipants in the study of Hawley and Irurita (1998) describe their pain and discomfortand how they sought comfort from God through prayer.Respondent 2: (URC) ‗yesterday I had a cough and I was taking cough mixture. Ithought I would not be able to come to church today. I was going to buy some coughmixture, but I thought I would be late for church so I came straight to church. As theservice proceeded, I prayed and asked God to heal my cough and I stopped coughing.‘The study of Hawley and Irurita (1998) on prayer in nursing found respondents focusingprayer on the situation at the time by using words such as „Lord calm this apprehension‟when they were feeling apprehensive. According to Hawley and Irurita this is prayer forsurvival rather than instinctive prayer where the person without thinking cries for helpwhen they may only be able to speak one or two sentences.Although the prayers in the URC are usually said by the minister, Respondent 2 did notrequest prayer from the minister but prayed quietly, probably in one or more sentencesand she was able to focus on a specific need. Like respondent 10 quoted at length in248