I am not very consistent in writing blog posts but sometimes there are experiences that must be shared. Recently I had one of these experiences. In my early childhood days prayer was an essential part of my day. I prayed every night and asked for every person in my life to be blessed. In my early teens I was taught to pray each morning and night and to pray in a certain pattern, which included addressing Heavenly Father, giving thanks, asking for those things I thought I needed, and then ending in Christ's name. In my later teens I continued to use the pattern I had been taught and I even added the habit of praying at meal time. However, throughout this lifetime of praying as I was taught to pray, I felt empty. I felt that my prayers meant little and that they were not quite reaching the ears of my Heavenly Father.
It wasn't until I realized that I really needed my Heavenly Father's help, especially in the mission field, that I began to pray with earnest. No one taught me how to pray with real intent, and I wasn't handed a pattern to follow. I simply began to talk with my Heavenly Father. I opened up my heart to Him and spoke to Him as I would speak to my dearest friends. I exercised faith that He was listening and that He would answer. I no longer treated Him as a voice recorder, but I treated Him as a being that would listen to me and respond. As I have continued this habit after serving a mission I have gained greater trust in my Heavenly Father as well. In the last few months I have prayed for something of importance to me and though it took those several months Heavenly Father recently answered that prayer. Not all prayers will be answered the moment we want them to be answered and perhaps not in the way we would like, but I firmly testify that those prayers will be answered. Our Father has not deserted us in this dark world; He is near and He is listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment