Prayer: A last alternative?

Have you ever felt so helpless, that ALL you feel you can do is pray? My kids Grandmother had a stroke this last weekend. My ex wife, Mary, went up to Norman Oklahoma to be with her family. My kids are going up in a few days. I am the ex husband, the ex son in law. I feel so helpless. Mom, (as I have always called her, and think of her as my second Mom), is not doing well, she may not live to much longer. What do I do? How can I help? ALL I can do is pray. Prayer, that is it? That is all I have, just prayer. Why do we feel so helpless, at times, when all we have is prayer? Don't we trust in the power of prayer? Can't we see how powerful our prayers are? Because of my Mothers prayers, I am alive today, I believe. I had a very bad accident years while driving a Garbage truck, and nothing happened to me. My friend and helper in the truck will never walk again, having broken a vertebrata in this same wreck. But my mom, prayed for me at this same instant, because she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to pray for me.
Why is our faith so little, that we seem to think that as a LAST RESORT we will pray? When we hear news like a family member having a stroke, the first thing we should is fall on our knees and seek God in behalf of those. We should be praying for the families, the friends, and of course the individual that is ill. Where is our trust, where is our faith, where is our belief that God will and can do whatever we "ASK AND THINK" in prayer? Psalms 66:18-20 tells us:
"If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
19 But God did listen!
He paid attention to my prayer.
20 Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
or withdraw his unfailing love from me. "
For God to answer our prayers we must not have sin in our hearts. Looking back I see, through this scripture, why it seemed God, at times, did not hear me. He heard me, but He did now answer me because I had unconfused sin in my heart. Now, don't get me wrong, that is not the only reason God, sometimes does not answer our prayers. God is God, and He has His plan, that has been in place since before He formed Adam out of the earth. I do not know why He took my Mom through cancer last year, I mean SO many prayers went up in her behalf for healing. But God took her home to be with Him. I DO NOT believe it was because some of us who prayed for her healing had unconfused sin in our hearts. BUT in the above verse, let's look closely at verse 19: But GOD DID listen! He paid attention to my prayer!!
IF GOD, the maker of well everything, is going to pay attention to my prayers, then why do I feel that prayer is the last alternative? God, who can do anything, is standing by to hear and pay attention to MY and YOUR prayers, and we sometimes treat this as "if all else fails, I'll pray"
I have texted my ex-wife, Mary a few times offering whatever I can do to help the family at this time, but she keeps asking me to pray. Why do I feel useless? Prayer IS powerful. I don't know if God in His infinite wisdom, will heal Maude, my mother in law, He may take her home, she is 89 and has had a wonderful life. BUT I do know I will pray for her healing, because that is what I want , more years to spend with her family. If God decides to take her, like He did my mom, then so be it. I cannot question God's decisions, I can only petition my wants and desires.
Prayer, it changes things, circumstances, people, weather, lives, families, you name it GOD does answer prayer. It is not a "Last Alternative" it is not a "I can't do anything else, so I GUESS I'll pray", it is not "One of our many options" it is the Only option. Prayer can guide a surgeons hand, prayer can make any illness disappear, prayer can create parts of the body that are not there anymore, or where never there. There is NOTHING prayer cannot do, so WHY, again I ask WHY do I feel so hopeless right now? I can and will continue to pray for my ex mother in law. I WILL NOT limit what God can and will do.
It is so easy to "put God in a box" " OK God, I guess there is nothing left to do but to take you out of the box, and see if , after all else failed, You can do anything." "The doctors have tried and failed, the test all look very bad, What 'ca got?" I don't think God likes being treated like that, I wouldn't.
IF WE REALLY BELIEVE OUR GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS, THEN WHY DO WE NOT ACT LIKE IT?
Why are we surprised when a prayer is answered? Sometime we act like a answered prayer is the most exciting thing in the world. It is exciting when God shows us His power, BUT it should NOT surprise us, we should expect it. He told us He would answer our prayers, do we not believe HIM? Are we calling God a liar?
Years ago there was a song I loved, by "Petra",(Yeah it has been a long time) It was titled "Get Own Your Knees, and Fight Like a Man" I don't really remember much of the song, just the title. That is were the power is, on our knees before the maker of the universe, talking to , praising, and asking Him to meet our needs, our desires, our wants. He wants to, but believe it or not, even the maker of the World has His hands tied until we ask. He cannot forgive our sins unless we ask Him to, and He cannot heal, perform miracles, do whatever needs to be done unless we ask Him. He is the one who set things up like this, because He wants us to ask Him for what we want, need desire.......He could do anything without us, if He wanted, but He doesn't want to.
Prayer, it is not just a last alternative anymore. "In ALL things Pray."