Very early in the morning, before sunrise, arrived at the desert of Gila, in New Mexico, a man eager for adventures.

He parked his truck and started the 32 km walk, going to a camping site where a group of students was waiting for him.

The heat was implacable under the scorching sun. The teacher soon realized his boots were not the ideal shoes for that climate. He stopped, took his boots out, changed socks, walked faster, slowed down, but nothing worked.

As the sun was going down, he arrived at the camping site. His feet were really hurt. He took his boots off, and saw that his feet were covered with blisters and bruises.

However, he mentioned it to no one.

He talked to the instructors and to the boys. Evening came down.

When morning arrived, they soon realized that one of the boys was missing.

The teacher felt the weight of responsibility, foreseeing the dangers of the cruel desert that the boy would have to face.

He put his boots on again, and it felt as he was walking on hot glass. He first stumbled, then dragged his feet. He tried to think about something else to distract himself, but it was all in vain.

The pain was increasing, becoming nearly unbearable.

Finally, he reached a path that could be seen through some bushes and went straight to the river which ran down the mountains, through the dark ravines.

When he saw the river, he decided to put his feet in the water. He was expecting some sort of relief, but the sensation was that of thousands of pins bursting the blisters.

He screamed while jumping into the water. The pain got worst.

There was no solution. He would not be able to walk anymore, and it would take days for someone to find him where he was. And the boy? What about the boy? He had to find him.

An idea came into his mind and he started to beg, until his voice became a loud scream.

“A horse. Have mercy. I need a horse.”

Soon after, as in a moan, he put all his soul in the following words: “Jesus!” and he kept saying: “Jesus. A horse. Jesus.”

He prayed for the first time in his life.

A horse appeared. It was real, not a hallucination. He rode the horse for the whole night, until he met the boy.

Earlier, two cowboys were looking for the animal, which had run away; they could not work out why.

But the teacher new. His prayer was heard and answered.

So, feeling really touched, he pronounced the second prayer of his life: a gratefulness prayer.

*  *  *

Prayer should be part of our lives.

Praying should never be the last resource, but the first.

The prayer moves deep powers which bring the necessary efforts to revert illnesses, and while feeding with new vigour and hope, it establishes the good spirits.

Text written by the Spiritist Moment Team, based on the article “Minha única prece”, published in the magazine “Reader’s Digest”, July 1998.