Prayer

On Sunday we visited my in-law's ward for a baby blessing and we had an interesting lesson on prayer in Relief Society. My thoughts were immediately turned to how many prayers have been answered in my life and what a testament it is of God's love for His children. Anyway, I guess I got a little inspired to write down some of my feelings and experiences with prayer...


I thought I'd start by expounding on a few sentences in the Bible Dictionary on prayer:

Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other.

I was once in a RS lesson where a woman said she didn't pray for people. Surprise was my first reaction until she began to explain. She felt that simply praying for people was somewhat trite because if it was God's will then it was God's will. By this point I really couldn't believe this woman had the audacity to say she didn't pray for people. For some reason it felt a little heartless. I know I have been through trials where in the depths of humility had to ask friends and family even our ward family, to fast and pray for us. It is an experience like no other to literally feel buoyed up in spirit by the faith and prayers of so many.

This woman then went on to say that instead of simply praying for people without any intent to do action, she prayed to know the will of the Lord for HER in that particular situation. Then if she felt impressed to help in someway, she would. Again, it was difficult for me to understand this different way of looking at prayer. For some reason it felt a little selfish. And so, I prayed to understand.

My answer came to me at a gas station a few days later, obviously when I least expected it. As I was filling my tank, my mind was opened up to how this woman prayed. I could picture her kneeling down at her bedside and earnestly pleading with the Lord, "Heavenly Father, so and so is experiencing adversity right now, please help me to know thy will so I might be an instrument in thy hands." Then the thought came to me that she really does pray for others, but in her own way. And that's okay.


The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.

When I was pregnant with Zachary, doctors told us there was a very likely chance that he had something called Meckel-Gruber Syndrome which is incompatible with life. Babies diagnosed with this are usually stillborn or die within the first few hours of life. Naturally my husband and I were devastated when this information was presented to us. But I was resolute and wanted so badly to not only endure this challenge, but to endure it well. I prayed to accept the will of the Lord whatever it may be. I had faith that Heavenly Father had a purpose for our child and that whatever the outcome, that purpose would be fulfilled.

There was only one problem. Deep down, if I knew I was honest with myself, of course I wanted nothing more than a miracle. I wanted to be able to hold my sweet baby in my arms, to hold him, kiss him, take in the smell of a newborn, a perfect specimen of life who was just so close to divinity, heaven on earth, complete untarnished innocence...



So how could that be a problem you might ask? Well, if that was truly MY will, how could I be sure it was HIS will? What I'm getting at is that if the purpose of prayer is to align the will of the Father with the will of the Child, how does that even happen anyway? The Savior taught us the answer: "Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:29). He asked for the cup to pass but understood it might not be so, or in His case, it could not be so. He knew that. He knew His mission by that point. But He still asked it to pass. What an incredible lesson for us in our lives.



Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

Ever felt like you prayed and prayed for something with diligence, consistency, faith and fervor? I have. And although the answers might not come when we WANT them to, they come when we NEED them to. Sometimes we have to perform additional work on our part to have our prayers answered. And we always have to exercise faith and hope.



I know God hears and answers our prayers. I know it is through prayer we can have a personal relationship with Him and know truth in all things.