Week 5

The topic that hit me hardest this week was about prayer.  I have grown up always saying family and individual prayers diligently, but I am too guilty of praying with habits and vain repetitions.  I used to have doubts concerning what the purpose of praying really is.  I have always heard that Heavenly Father knows the desires of our heart, so sometimes I question why I have still have to tell Him.  If He is all-knowing, why should I have to ask him for things?  However, I learned so much about prayer this week that helped me gain a testimony about why we pray and the power that prayer can have in our lives.  This week, we read the entry for "Prayer" in the Bible Dictionary.  So many of the lines hit me hard and really spoke to me.
It reads, "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God, then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part.  Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship.  Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other.  The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them."
I love this so much!  When we realize that God is our literal Father, we want to tell Him everything.  By praying, we change ourselves into the people He wants us to become.   We learn more about His will, and a desire to follow that grows naturally inside of us.  Some blessings are conditional upon us asking for them, so it is important to gain the humility that allows us to pour our hearts out to God.  Since I have been in college, though, I have realized that prayer can become so much more personalized.  I can ask Heavenly Father for help with anything.  I can really tell Him my heart's desires, and I can express to Him guilt and sorrow that no one else would ever be able to understand.  Brother Griffin recommended that we pray to remember what we promised to be in the pre-mortal existence.  I have been trying to do that lately and it has hugely impacted my life.  I learned that once I pray for things, Heavenly Father will grant me with the knowledge and comfort that will help me keep enduring.
Another thing that I learned about praying is that it can help us make decisions.  We can learn from the story of Nephi and Lehi that when you make decisions, it is so important to put the Lord first.  They chose to put the Lord first in all of their choices and they were blessed with safety and deliverance from the prison.  Whenever I have a difficulty with school, relationships, or life in general, I so often turn to my friends and family for advice right off the bat.  They often have good opinions, but I am going to try to go to my knees initially and show the Lord that I will do whatever He desires.  Brother Griffin said that instead of turning horizontal when we have questions and asking those around us, we need to look vertical.  Only one opinion truly matters.
I have a testimony of the power of prayer in our lives, and I now have a new resolve to make it more personalized in meaningful for me.