Author: Angela

I write so my family will always have letters from home.

Purpose of prayer

In Ether 1 of the Book of Mormon it says that the prophet prayed for his family and friends who were refugees looking for a home. The Lord had compassion and told him to prepare to go to a choice land “…because this long time ye have cried unto me.” (Ether 1:43)

So, does this mean that all we need to do to get what we want is to pray long enough and hard enough?

I don’t think this is how things work. Jesus taught in the parable of the unjust judge that a corrupt official will show mercy just to be rid of someone who asks and asks for something, but God is surely better than that. (Luke 18:1-8)

I don’t think that the brother of Jared wearied the Lord or wore him down with requests so he finally said, fine, have what you want. I think this story illustrates how prayer makes us ready to receive the huge blessings that the Lord already has waiting for us.

In other words, prayer doesn’t chip away at the Lord’s iron will to withhold blessings. Rather, prayer chips away at our own wills and our pride, and helps prepare us to level up in understanding and joy.

After all, we pray to a God who knows our needs before they are spoken. (Matthew 6:33) So, prayer isn’t about informing Him of needs, but connecting with Him.

Please don’t let your prayers sound like a shopping list. The Lord’s perspective transcends your mortal wisdom.

President Russell M Nelson

Prayer is the vehicle for us to understand that God is there. He gets us. He will bless us in ways that will ultimately help us return to Him, and often that means He doesn’t remove every pain right away.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses- yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen!

President Russell M Nelson

Pray to have eyes to see God’s hand in your life and in the world around you. Ask him to tell you if He is really there-if He knows you. Ask him how He feels about you. And then listen.

President Russell M Nelson

I pray for an evolving list of people by name, but I have changed how I pray for them. I used to kind of whine and beg. Okay, I still do that sometimes. But, more and more, prayer has become the moment in the day where I can tell God that I trust Him with these precious people and that I trust His wisdom and His power to help. Sometimes during prayer I will quote a scripture of praise. This has been a helpful shift in how I approach my Father in Heaven in prayer.

Mark

We are at the phase where Mark has a pretty full life unaccompanied by me, but I have ways of staying current with his activities.

Recently, Mark’s friend made a 50 day countdown to graduation video. I took a screenshot of Mark from the reel because it shows him in his weightlifting class which is one of his favorites.

Here is Mark with his calculus class celebrating Mr. Newbold being named teacher of the year. Mark is doing great in this class.

During spring break, he stayed with my parents and spent a lot of time with cousins. He was most excited to tell me about all of the stumps he helped remove from my parents’ gardens.

He is working hard to prepare for his senior piano recital, and lucky me, I get to hear him practice a wide range of repertoire each day, including works from Chopin, Joplin, Scarlatti, Mendelssohn, and Sinding, plus hymn arrangements. Here he is accompanying a violinist. He’s a fantastic musician.

Richard and I had a flight during the Saturday evening session of general conference so we weren’t home to view it. When we walked in the door, it was clear that Tim and Mark had been watching conference together because this traditional block tower was sitting in the middle of the room. Mark has built one during each conference for years. Yes, this is just a simple block tower, but on that night, it was a symbol of his commitment and his testimony.

I am so happy to be Mark’s mom.

15

This weekend marks 15 years of writing this blog, and I’m taking a minute to celebrate this personal accomplishment. I have written steadily during these years and produced more than 2,300 posts.

There are periods when I get tired of blogging, and I have planned my exit so many times. If you see a post called, “So long, farewell,” you will know that I no longer feel the call to share. ✌️

I am insecure about my content all of the time. It would be easier to keep my words in a personal journal, but that isn’t the point. You are the point. You are the intended audience. Writing this blog is my version of placing a note in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean to see who will find it. I hope that you find something joyful here.

By the way

One morning last week, my second counselor and I made a visit to a ward Primary leader. We were with her for about a half an hour and I shared a scripture and we prayed together before we said goodbye. As we walked to the car, I was feeling good until we saw the dog.

This large, unleashed dog saw us at the same moment that we saw him and he charged toward us to greet us. I have childhood trauma from mean dogs, and I never want to see a large dog running toward me, friendly or not. So, I was definitely not at my best when I saw this happy? savage? dog running straight for us. “I don’t like anything about this,” I said, and Barbara tried to divert the dog’s attention from me. (Bless her.)

But the owner of the dog was also there, unseen on his skateboard in the street. He ran over to fetch his friendly dog. Still, I hadn’t started breathing yet, and the fight-or-flight chemicals in my veins definitely continued to react.

But then I really looked at the young man. I recognized him! He had been on Tim’s ultimate Frisbee team before the pandemic. And in that moment I knew that I needed to be a friend to him.

I began where I was, flustered, not quite myself, and said, “I know you!”

And suddenly, I remembered his name, which was one that I hadn’t uttered in probably 5 years, and then we were having a surprisingly vulnerable conversation about church. Church!

When he said he wasn’t part of our church, the words, “That’s just fine, we love you all,” came out of my mouth. The young man swept back his hair and we talked for a few more minutes.

“Did I just tell this young man that we loved him?” was the shaming thought that came to my mind as we left the scene. But as more hours and days have passed, I have realized that the words I spoke were really not my own. I also remembered that some of my favorite stories of Jesus happened during unexpected meetings. The woman with an issue of blood was not his original focus or destination, and neither was the Samaritan woman, but these “scenes by the wayside” show his disciples the perfect pattern:

Take time to talk to someone. Be real. Offer hope. Share love. The people you meet by the wayside might just be the ones you are meant to talk to that day.