Why Pray?

A response to the question about 'why do you pray for changing His plans (whatever those may be)?'

You assume that. 

We pray because we are directed to pray and because we are informed in the Quran that we have been created to worship, which I think encompasses willing obedience, submission and service.  

We have ritualistic prayers and we have informal prayers: 

In ritualistic prayers, we recite reminders about the core beliefs of faith and pray for guidance for all [http://quran.com/1/ ], recite any portion of the Quran again as a reminder, then submit physically and verbally by bowing and prostrating, then bear witness that there is no God but God, and that Mohammad is His messenger, then pray that Mohammad and his family is blessed the way Abraham and his family have been blessed, and then any Quranic or personal prayer we wish to ask. We conclude the formal prayers by greeting the angels who are maintaining our record, whom we believe are constantly on our right and left, mentioned in the Quran as the honourable recorders in Chapter 82, verses 10-12 [http://quran.com/82 ] as well as in Chapter 50, verses 16-18 [http://quran.com/50 ] 

In informal prayers, we glorify God, thus being mindful of His Majesty, Grace and Love, and we seek forgiveness, thus reminding ourselves of our limits of knowledge and understanding, and human weaknesses and shortcomings, and our utter dependence on the Grace of God. 

Also, since we believe that God's love is far greater than any mother can even imagine loving her child, we cry our hearts out to God to find solace and comfort when life seems overwhelming. We do not know if God will change His plans for us, or change our hearts to be more open to the trials of this temporal life, or if it is also part of God's plan to make us pray some particular prayer at some particular moment in time. The Uncertainty Principle applies to us, but not to God.