The other day I was reminded how strong my kids are with their testimony of this. My darling Karlee (15) posted on instagram (side note...sadly, those of you with teens know that we learn more about their lives via social media than anything else) that she had been having a hard week and turned to prayer. At the risk of embarrassing her, I want to copy/paste what she wrote because it was so powerful:
So a little bit of a backstory before I share this: so this past week for me has just sucked. I've been stressed, overwhelmed, and all out miserable over nothing really. I didn't know what else to do so I knelt down and said a prayer as I'm balling my eyes out(ok slight exaggeration but you get the idea). So skip ahead to this morning as I'm leaving for school. I reach into my pocket and pull out these two little beauties. I don't know how they got there, but I know why: they were an answer to my prayers. I felt weak and alone and these scriptures talk about how God shows us our weaknesses so we can become stronger, and that through Christ we can do anything. I love you, Christ loves you, God loves you, so keep your chins high and your standards higher :)
And here is her picture of the "little beauties" that she referred to:
Ummm...how amazing is it that my 15 year old has such a strong testimony of prayer! Proud mama moment, for sure!
And...it got me thinking. There have been so many times in my life where I have felt Heavenly Father's love as I have prayed! He has answered my prayers...always! Not always in ways that I understood at the time, but always nevertheless!
I remember when Carson's adoption almost didn't happen...oh how my heart ached!! I couldn't function, so finally I prayed...I asked for peace. I knew that asking to make it all work out wasn't necessarily a "thy will be done" type of prayer, so instead I pleaded for peace. It came...oh how wonderful that was to know that despite whatever was going to happen, I would be ok!
Another time that stands out to me is when Grace was 2 weeks old and we spent 3 days at Primary Children's Hospital! To copy/paste from my post at the time, I wrote:
"I took Grace in for her 2 week check up. She hadn't gained any weight since her 1 week check up so her pediatrician wanted me to breastfeed her and then we would weigh her again. This was to check how much breast milk she was getting from me in a feeding. Well, after weighing her again, I took her back in the room to get her dressed....and she stopped breathing, turned blue...holy cow, scared me to death! I yelled for the nurse, who yelled for Dr. McMillan. Dr. McMillan took her and she was breathing again. She checked her out and handed her back to me so that we could talk...and she stopped breathing again! So, long story short, we were sent up to Primary Children's Hospital to have her checked out. At Primary's, they did a spinal tap on my baby (a heart wrenching site that I will never get out of my mind), took lots of blood and urine samples and did a chest x-ray. They wanted the blood and spinal fluid to culture for 36 hours to see if she had any kind of infection. That first night was pretty scary as her body temperature had dropped and they couldn't get it up again. They had heat packs under her and a warmer over her. She wouldn't wake up...they referred to it as hypothermia. They think that she got so cold because they had her undressed for so long while they did the spinal tap and such. Because, she had her temperature taken that morning at her Dr.'s appt and she was just fine. So, they continued to monitor her and her blood and urine cultures for 36 hours. During this time, I discovered that I wasn't making enough milk to feed her (probably because of all the stress). The doctors encouraged me to breastfeed and then supplement with formula, but after talking with Trent, we decided that I was just under too much stress to try to continue to breastfeed. So, it broke my heart, but switching Grace to formula is what we felt was best for her and her continued growth."
At the time that all of this was taking place, Trent was 2000 miles away at his new job in Florida. My nephew's, Britten and Eric came up to the hospital to give Grace a blessing. During that blessing Britten had the distinct impression that Grace would do great things in her life...and he told her that. At that moment, I knew that Heavenly Father was aware of me and my sick baby girl...and more importantly, I knew that Grace would be ok.
To quote Richard G. Scott from a conference address found here he says: "Prayer is a supernal gift of our Father in Heaven to every soul. Think of it: the absolute Supreme Being, the most all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful personage, encourages you and me, as insignificant as we are, to converse with Him as our Father....It matters not our circumstance, be we humble or arrogant, poor or rich, free or enslaved, learned or ignorant, loved or forsaken, we can address Him. We need no appointment. Our supplication can be brief or can occupy all the time needed. It can be an extended expression of love and gratitude or an urgent plea for help. He has created numberless cosmos and populated them with worlds, yet you and I can talk with Him personally, and He will ever answer."
Prayer has seen me through some of the roughest times; infertility, depression/anxiety, an almost failed adoption, deciding whether to adopt again or not (after Karlee), sickness with my sweet kiddo's, raising a child with special needs, forgiving others, etc! I have also learned to pray with gratitude for those joyous/triumphant times.
We are His children! He loves us! He wants us to return to him! He WILL hear and answer our prayers! I know this with everything in me and am so, so very grateful for that knowledge!
Pray, he is there;
Speak, he is list'ning.
You are his child;
His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer;
He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heav'n
Words and music: Janice Kapp Perry, b. 1938
Words and music: Janice Kapp Perry, b. 1938
1 comment:
Wow, thanks I needed that!!!
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