The Blessings of Prayer

 To my son, 

               Today I want to encourage you to pray more frequently and more earnestly. I want you to know that you can turn to your Father in Heaven in any situation, whether you are frustrated, sad, scared, or even when you are happy. Just like I want to hear from you about how your day went and the things that you did, so too He wants to hear from you in prayer. At night and in the morning we encourage you to kneel down and pray; here’s what Alma said to his son: “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 37:37). In other words, when you lie down to sleep, pray to God to watch over you, and when you wake up in the morning express your gratitude in prayer for the great blessings He has given you. If you will remember to sincerely pray like this every day Alma promises that one day you will return to live with your Heavenly Father.

               Do not believe, though, that you can only pray in the morning and night. You can pray anytime and anywhere. You do not need to be kneeling or even closing your eyes, though those are good things to do to focus your prayers. But when you are upset or worried or feel like you need extra help, you can simply focus your mind on your Heavenly Father and pray to Him for help and strength without even opening your mouth. Many scriptures tell us that we should “pray always” meaning that we should always have a prayer in our heart and try to stay close in our minds to our Father in Heaven. One such scripture says this: “Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:38). In other words, if you will pray always the blessings you receive from your Father in Heaven will be greater than finding great earthly treasures. I remember once in particular where I saw the fulfillment of that as a missionary. My companion and I prayed to the Lord to help us find someone to teach the gospel to who would accept it and could be baptized as we had really been struggling finding people. That day we were guided to get on a bus, and at the end of that bus ride we found a lady sitting there named Catarina who gave us her address to start teaching her. We did just that, she came to church, and she was baptized less than three weeks later. It turns out she had been praying to find the church that her mother had joined in Cape Verde (which was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), but she had been unable to find it. We were the answer to her prayers, and she gained great joy in her life because of her faith and acceptance of the gospel. I know that as you seek to pray often to your Heavenly Father in the name of your Savior, He will bless you, watch over you, and likewise give you great blessings.