Posts tagged: God
You’ve probably all seen it where someone is asked to give a prayer at the beginning or ending of a meeting and grumble as they get to their feet. Perhaps that someone is you.
There is a person that I admire, and whenever she gets asked to say the prayer she feels honored and gets very excited. She is the most enthusiastic person about prayers I’ve ever seen. No exaggeration. She’s a nonmember. A nonmember that willingly comes to our seminary class when she gets breaks from college.
Today was her last day before she went back to school, and we all said our goodbyes, and I walked outside with her. I asked her why she was always so excited to give the prayer when she was asked.
“I don’t know, I just feel like I shouldn’t be able to, so when I do get that opportunity I want to get as much out of it as possible.”
From her point of view, it might be that she feels as a nonmember she can’t do that, and we know that everyone is allowed to pray. So let’s apply that quote to a hypothetical person who’s been a member their whole life. The meaning suddenly changes.
We are given the divine opportunity to talk to God. To GOD. Like, the Creator of our souls and the Almighty King. We get to talk to Him. About anything. Our blessings, our griefs, our hopes… and there’s an unlimited amount of prayers you can say in a day, on any given day. We can pray to Him, and we won’t be put on hold until He’s not so busy. He’s always listening.
What a privilege it is that I get to talk to someone so powerful, whenever I want, however many times I want, and He will listen.
Might I issue a challenge? Let’s pray with the mindset that this is a privilege, a privilege that we may not feel worthy of, and take advantage of it. Get excited for the opportunity to personally talk to the Most High God. With your Father.
I was mad. I was frustrated. I was sad. I was doubting everything I had ever believed about the church. For no real reason other than frustration that I didn’t feel happy at a church dance.
What a glorious and humbling thing it is to feel the comfort of a Father that just last night you had basically screamed at and doubted even ever existed.
I cannot express how much love and joy I feel seeing that this is the fourth week in a row that a laurel in my ward has come back. Not only come back, but is willingly participating!
And to know that this great amount of joy is only a fraction of what God feels when He sees the same thing… it’s amazing.
Wanna hear a lesson I learned shortly after having the most terrifying nightmare of my life?
…I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
“…I like the internet, because I can have a voice just as loud as the others, whereas at school and other times I’m too quiet to hear.
What really makes me happy is that regardless if I’m on the internet or softly speaking, God hears me. And I think that’s one of the coolest things ever.”
So yesterday, I went to Wyoming, and I was nervous as posted here.
A lot of things went wrong. The specific area I had planned for filming was being used. The memory card I had got filled before we were done filming. I forgot to get some lights, and because we had about 15 minutes of daylight, the shots became super grainy. The location wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
So as I said, a lot of things went wrong. However, things turned out a lot better than I had hoped for. The things that really mattered to me were taken care of. What I was most nervous about was the social aspect - two of my seminary friends along with a friend who’s not a member. I was afraid of an ever present awkwardness that would follow us. I was afraid that my friends wouldn’t like my script. I was afraid I wouldn’t know how to operate the camera.
But my prayers were heard. All those worries were taken care of and went smoothly.
As for the things before, they were a bunch of obstacles. However, Heavenly Father knew how much this meant to me and provided ways around them. I rewrote the script a little, and it worked better than the last. The area that was in use was no longer being used by the time we were about to film there. A light was found in one of the rooms that helped with the lighting a whole bunch. My friend had brought his own camera—complete with a memory card that we used.
Looking back, yeah, there’s a lot of things I learned I need to fix. But Heavenly Father made the lessons tolerable without resulting in me having a mental breakdown.
Yesterday, I was thanking my friends every chance I got.
Looking back, I’m thanking my God every chance I get.
If you are having troubles with trusting that God listens to your prayers that He cares about you individually, Read Matthew 7:7-8. Then, when you are frustrated because you’ve already read that scripture, read the Joseph Smith Translation of it. (JST Matt. 7:12-17)
You are perfect, wonderful, spectacular. I don’t know your name, or what your talents are, or what trials you may be going through. But I can prove that even though I have no clue who you are, I know that you are important.
God is perfect and makes no mistakes. Do you agree? I do.
God created you. Do you agree? I do.
It is impossible for you to be a mistake, a fluke, imperfect, because God made you, and He doesn’t make junk.
Do you agree? I do.
