“But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness. Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you” (Alma 34:26-27).
I’ll be honest, I hardly ever pray. The more I do it the better I feel, true, but for some reason that fact doesn’t click in my brain: the benefits don’t seem to register. It may stem from the fact that I’ve never seen it as a commandment, or it may come from my belief that I should not rely on anyone for help and deal with my problems myself. Every time I read the book of Alma I skimmed over this scripture, never really understanding its significance. It took two separate significant times in my life to make me see the importance of this scripture.
The first time this scripture became clear to me was when I found out I had a cyst (which turned out to be a tumor) in my tibia and I had to have it surgically removed. The place where the cyst was located was near a main nerve. If that nerve was hit my leg would be numb, inhibiting my ability to walk. My biggest fear is being paralyzed or disabled physically in any way, so the thought that this could happen to me was terrifying. For the first time in my life, I turned to God for help. I prayed for hours, crying my eyes out until I fell asleep, and then my thoughts were always on what I could do to receive help from God so they surgery would go well, and once I got over myself, I asked God to help my family not worry about me.
In all the time I’ve been alive, that time was the first time I really felt the benefits that came from sincere prayer. Sure, I’d given many half-hearted prayers in my lifetime, but I’d also received half-hearted answers in return. As I read in a book once, I felt that I had given a million dollar prayer and received a million dollar answer.
The next time I really gave a prayer where God was continually on my mind was when my fiance went to basic training. I cried all the time, feeling so alone and not willing to accept help from anyone, especially not my family. So, for the first time in nearly two years, I turned to God. I cried to God every chance I got to keep my fiance strong throughout basic, and then I prayed that I would remain sane and be able to function throughout the ten weeks he was in basic training. Angels came to comfort me. Every time I pray sincerely I find myself benefiting from it. Never has anything detrimental happened to me because I prayed.
Amulek was right. In order to have strong faith and a relationship with God, I need to pour out my heart in prayer continually to him. If you do this you can live in a world of turmoil and be okay because the love of your Maker is with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment