I made prayer the focus of my attention at one point in my life. I knew that I needed to communicate more with my Father in Heaven and not just say some memorized phrases. I set a goal to pray every morning and every night. The idea was that I would fall out of bed onto my knees (as I had been accustomed to doing in the mission field) and then to climb into bed from my knees every night. I prayed that Father would give me a testimony of prayer as well as a desire to pray. I started my day asking Heavenly Father to help me to accomplish my goals and directives for the day and most importantly that I could be a resource for Him. During the evenings, I fell on my knees and thanked Father for the day. I reported back to Him all that I had accomplished and ways in which I had found to serve others.
As I was working on my testimony of prayer, a young man stayed with my family. He had just graduated from high school and was simply oozing with energy and life. He was usually ready to attack the world when I was ready to hide from it and collapse in bed. My bedroom was directly above his bedroom and many times, I could hear him talking late at night. I wrongly assumed that he was on the phone chatting away with his girlfriend. Then, one night out of complete frustration and exhaustion, I decided I was going to talk to him about his late night conversations that were keeping me awake. I, energetically and filled with indignation, approached his bedroom door and prepared to knock. Imagine my surprise when I could hear him talking to his Heavenly Father and the phone was on its cradle? He had a strong testimony of the power of prayer and nightly said them out loud. I humbly returned to my room, fell to my knees and said my own prayer, grateful for his powerful example.
President Kimball stated, “In the past, having family prayer once a day may have been all right. But in the future it will not be enough if we are going to save our families” (Ensign, October 2005, p6). Are we having family prayer daily? What about individual prayer? When we feel the cares of the world pressing down on us, do we seek our Father in Heaven first?
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As a mother with seemingly a multitude of young children, my prayers were often interrupted. I have found great solace in praying in my car while driving to pick up a child or even while having my walks. I have discovered that when I have a desire to talk to my Heavenly Father, I always find time and space to do so.
I heard my favorite story about prayer while sitting in a Relief Society meeting years ago. A sister vocalized the difficulty in praying in solitude with a household of small children. Another sister responded how she solved that problem in her life. Each time she would hear a child coming, she would quickly change the topic in her prayer to that child. The child would then witness not only mom praying but her love and concern for him as well as her faith in Heavenly Father to take care of everything.
I know that the only true source of comfort comes through prayer. We need it. We should crave it. I pray that we will seek for the comfort that can truly only come through prayer.
By Tracy Atkinson
Tracy Atkinson, mother of six, lives in the Midwest with her husband. She is a teacher, having taught elementary school to higher education, holding degrees in elementary education and a master’s in higher education. Her passion is researching, studying and investigating the attributes related to self-directed learners. She has published several titles, including The Art of Learning Journals, Calais: The Annals of the Hidden, Lemosa: The Annals of the Hidden, Book Two, Rachel’s 8 and Securing Your Tent. She is currently working on a non-fiction text exploring the attributes of self-directed learners: The Five Characteristics of Self-directed Learners.
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