When I first found out about the sudden catastrophe, I was horrified and I screamed: Ribono Shel Olam, please stop this right away!” I didn’t just scream; I psyched myself into believing that Hashem heard me, and for sure He’ll make big Yeshuos. It was a Tefila with Bitachon, and I’ve seen them work sometimes (even when I was really weak in Bitachon, and I was just acting as if I was sure I would see Yeshuos).
Half an hour later, I asked two different people what the Matzav was, and they both reported that there was a drastic improvement. I asked “When did things improve?” They both said (independently of each other) “Half an hour ago!” I keep insisting to tell people that each individual alone can affect the entire situation! חַיָּב כָּל אֶחָּד וְאֶחָּד לוֹמַר בִשְבִילִי נִבְרָּא הָּעוֹלָּם (Every person is obligated to say: “the entire universe was created just for me!”)
Many years ago, I read that Eretz Yisroel was having lots of terrorist problems. So I davened hard, and the very next week the Israelis had a big victory. But it bothered me that Hashem wasn’t getting the credit, so I asked Hashem to do something against them, Himself! The very next week, the Arabs of Shechem and Jenin had their cities surrounded with women and children who had explosives tied around them. Now, the Israelis were stuck. If they would attack, the Arabs would scream: “Killing civilians!” Suddenly, lightening came down from Shamayim to these two cities, and the Arabs were petrified. The problem was over! I remember during the Yom Kippur War, the Mashgiach of Lakewood, who had tremendous Ahavas Yisroel, told me that it’s a big Simcha that the: כֹחִי וְעֹצֶם יָּדִי (illusionary feeling that the victory was due to their own abilities, not from Hashem) of the Israeli’s was destroyed. That the tough Israeli army was caught off guard, with no hint of what was coming, is super degradation; and gets people to rely only on Hashem.
