When i’m afraid, I will rely on my higher power for strength and guidance.

Whatever name you give it, part of what happens is a handover. The thing stops being held solely by you at three in the morning, and the grip loosens.

Anyone who has slept in the passenger seat on a long night drive knows the mechanism. Sleep is possible only because somebody else has the wheel — not theoretically, actually. The responsibility has genuinely been put down somewhere.

Prayer at its most practical works much the same way. What comes back is one question. Whether the hands unclench is another, and that one gets answered straight away.