Prayer

The girls and I spent 24 hours with my grandmother this week (she lives about 2.5 hrs from us). She made an interesting comment as we sat down to a meal together. As we discussed saying a blessing on the food (she is Christian but not LDS) said, "When the kids were little, I taught them all to say this little grace, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food." Then one time, we came to visit you guys at your house and your Daddy called on you to say the blessing and out of your mouth came the sweetest little prayer about thanking God for Grandma and Grandpa and it was just right from your heart and it was like you were just talking right to Him. I'd never heard anything like it before and it just touched me."

I've heard most of my grandma's stories before (grin) but this was a new one for me. I said, "Yes, we teach our children to open the prayer in the name of Heavenly Father, thank Him for things, ask Him for blessings we need, and to close in Jesus' name, but the rest is up to them." She then asked me to say the blessing on the food, so I did, and then of course, Maren and Elaina wanted to each say one, too. Those were well-blessed turkey sandwiches!

I am so grateful for the gift of prayer in my life. It is my understanding that other Christian faiths believe that God is silent, and it is hard for me to fathom that. I have always been taught (according to our LDS beliefs) that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and wants to hear me and speak to me, much like an earthly parent communicates to their child. I have had many experiences that have taught me that this is true. I am so glad that I can teach my children this same truth. It is a powerful thing to know that I am a child of God, He is my Father, and that we can communicate.