"Heavenly Father, Are You Really There...?"

The words of a children's hymn often stick with my heart.  "Heavenly Father, are you really there?  And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?"  ("A Child's Prayer").  I have felt His love often.  In the dark when I was afraid as a child, in my heart as I prayed for comfort during a time of trial, or in the middle of the day when I see hundreds of other people and wonder if I really matter to him.  It comes as a quiet and gentle reassurance, He is there.  He does answer our prayers.  Just as a young boy, Joseph Smith, prayed to find God, we too can.  We are His children and "everyone that asks, receives; everyone that seeks, finds, (3 Nephi 14:7-8), that is His promise.

Where Can I Turn For Peace?



The Resurrection: He Lives

 Life can often be chaotic, uneasy, or even uncertain.  However hard our trials may become or unclear our path in front of us may become, I know we can always turn to the Savior for comfort, peace, and guidance.  As long as we know that Jesus Christ lives, and most importantly, that he loves us, we can always remember the promise he leaves us, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).  I echo the words of a familiar hymn, "I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives!" (I Know That My Redeemer Lives - LDS Hymn # 136).

What Is Your Desire?

Lately, I have been thinking about some of the things we heard from the apostles just a week ago.  One topic in particular was about our desires.  I have been thinking about my desires and how that has shaped me into who I am at this moment.  Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, "Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming" (Desire). 

One desire I have is to improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  Daily communication, or prayer, is essential and even vital to gaining and maintaining a relationship with Him.  I struggle, like almost everyone else does, with making morning or evening prayer heartfelt and meaningful.  At times we may even doubt, but what I have come to find is that our Heavenly Father is always listening.  Our sincere prayers do not fall upon deaf ears or idle hands.  He is ready and willing to answer, our receiving is a matter of our sincerity and real intent (Enos 1:3-4).

Never Alone...

Through my life I have wondered at times if anyone knew what pain I was going through.  Of course I had freinds, like most do, who are willing and ready to come to the rescue and help us.  But what about the times when the pain we go through, our friends have not experienced?  Their words bring momentary comfort, their affection brings a small sense of security, but pain creeps back in once they have left.  

I have come to rely on, and find solace in the selfless act the Savior provided or us.  There is a pain that we cannot understand, but we can know that he did it for us, that "he may know...how to succor his people" (Alma 7:11-12).  I have felt devastating holes of disappointment and discouragement filled through the power of His atonement.  I have felt the hopeless pains and ever lonely sorrows of life experience lifted from my life and an abiding peace and heavenly assurance fill holes I thought would never heal.  One recently has said, "The Savior is not a silent observer. He Himself knows personally and infinitely the pain we face" (The Atonement Covers All Pain).  Let us always remember, especially through our pains, we are never alone, nor will we ever be.  "Come unto me...and ye shall find rest to your souls" (Matthew 11:28-30).

Our Faith Can Make Us Grow

I remember back when I was a boy, I would often go to the store with my mom and keep her company while she shopped.  I would always ask for a hundred things that we never needed, but for some reason she was always willing to let me get just a little something.  I used to love to get the magic grow animals.  These little toys just intrigued me; you just drop them in water and they would grow to be huge!  Although I lacked the patience to sit and watch them grow, I would find myself coming back to the glass to observe them and see how they grew.  I was always astonished at how long it would take for these animals to grow, but I knew that by the end they would reach their full potential. 

We, in many ways, are like these little animals.  Often times we may feel small or inadequate or as if we cannot measure up to the tasks that we sometimes face in life.  However, just like placing us these animals in water, we too must build up our faith and immerse our lives around that.  As we do so, we begin to see not only our faith, but we ourselves grow.  Our faith begins to become manifest in our daily lives (Alma 32:41).  Although we may not notice this growth over night, as we look back on our lives we will see that change has occurred, despite the slow process.  Like these animals, however hard things may get, we must not be removed from our reservoirs of faith, or we will ultimately shrink noticing our insecurities and inadequacies once again.  We must continue to grow, and we will if we but continue to immerse ourselves completely in our faith in Christ.