“And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm.” -1 Nephi 18:21
One of my favorite scripture stories of all time is the story of Enos. I love that Enos pours out his heart to Heavenly Father, and I love to see the increase in faith of Enos from the beginning of his story to the end of his story.
Enos 1:1-8 reads, “Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—
“And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins.
“Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.
“And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
“And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.
“And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.”
“And I said: Lord, how is it done?
“And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.”
I think one of the reasons I love this story so much is that it isn’t laden appearing angels or miraculous healings. (Although I love to read those stories!) Instead, this story shows a child pleading with his Father for forgiveness and knowledge and wisdom. You can feel Enos’ struggle as he kneels before the Lord. You can feel his overwhelming astonishment as he feels his sins washed away. You can feel his increase of faith. Each of us can experience what Enos experienced.
I remember one night, when I was fifteen, kneeling down before the Lord in a similar manner as Enos (although it was in my bedroom as opposed to the forest). I was going through some immense struggles in my life at the time, and I felt I was at the end of my rope. I needed to know that what I was living was true, and I needed to know that I was doing as I should. I poured out my soul to God.
I closed my prayer with tears. And then, I had an indescribable experience, as I received a confirmation I could never deny, that the gospel was real, and I was on the right path. The peace that came with it was overwhelming, and it carried me through the next several months of my life.
Jesus shared with his disciples, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).
I know this promise is true.
One night, during the first semester of my senior year at BYU, I was having a really difficult time. To this day, I can’t remember what my struggle was, but I remember feeling great hurt and loneliness whatever the reason. I remember wishing so badly I could see a particular friend of mine, James, and knowing that if he was there, for some unknown reason, I would receive the comfort I needed.
Around eleven that night, I told Heavenly Father of my situation and of my feeling that James would be able to comfort me. I hopelessly climbed into bed, and tried to go to sleep.
Only moments after pulling the covers over my body, my roommate burst into the room, quite excited. She said she and her boyfriend were going to go dance in the parking lot and they wanted to borrow my TV because they wanted to learn some particular dance moves from a certain movie. I remember feeling pretty annoyed at the moment and just wishing I could fall asleep. As she was walking out the door, she paused and said, “Oh, James is here too.” I almost couldn’t believe what she had just said.
Over the next three or so hours, James and I talked, then joined in the dancing with my roommate and her boyfriend, then talked some more—I don’t even recall what about. Finally, around two or three in the morning, I decided I had to go to bed, since I had to wake up at six to go to work. I went to sleep happy, and thanked the Lord for so graciously answering my prayer, and I realized the Lord’s promise really was true; all I had to do was ask.
Let me share a few other experiences I have had with prayer.
In September of 2007, I was diagnosed with TMJ (Temperomandibular joint disorder). Part of the treatment for a regular case of TMJ includes wearing an “appliance” (a type of retainer to re-position the jaw). I was required to wear the retainer during the night while I slept and for a few hours during the day.
While the retainer was somewhat annoying, I did okay wearing it during the day when I needed to. Wearing it at night was a different story, though. I’ve always been known to do crazy things in my sleep, and when it came to the retainer, it held true. When I first started wearing it, I would get up a few hours after falling asleep and take it out and put it back in its case on the vanity in my bathroom. About a week or two into wearing it, though, apparently my subconscious had enough of getting up in the middle of the night, and I started taking it out while I was still in bed and put it in random places—under my pillow, on my alarm clock, the middle of the floor of my room, down the crack on the side of my bed.
One morning I momentarily woke up a couple of hours before my alarm. I noticed that the retainer wasn’t in my mouth. I felt around me and checked all the usual spots. It was no where to be found. I turned on the light and looked—it was nowhere. Before falling back to sleep, I prayed to Heavenly Father to help me find my retainer, as it was quite essential to my pain relief.
Sometime after falling back to sleep and before my alarm went off, I had a dream about looking for my retainer. In my dream, I felt like I needed to look through the small space between my mattress and headboard from the side of my bed against the wall. This was a kind of awkward position, considering I kind of had to squish my head between the mattress and wall and then try to see through the small opening. The dream ended. When I woke up, I was able to recall what I had dreamt, and I looked in the precise place I dreamt about. I caught a glimpse of my retainer. It was sitting on the extended part of the plywood that my mattress was on, which was directly underneath the headboard and which I could have never seen unless I had looked from the precise spot I did. I said a silent prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father.
I didn’t realize the significance of such a seemingly simple thing until I heard a similar story related the following Sunday in Relief Society. The story shared was different, but had all the same components—something was lost and couldn’t be found, the person prayed for guidance, they dreamt a dream of where to find the object, and the next day they found it precisely where it had been in their dream. The Lord wants to help us! We just have to turn to Him and trust Him!
The following story demonstrates how praying regularly can have such a powerful impact on just our day-to-day lives and relationships. I don’t think I realized just how influential prayer could be on relationships until I had this experience.
One fall, a couple of years after graduating from BYU, it seemed that it was going to be a very difficult year in my apartment. I got along great with two of my roommates, but I was extremely worried about my third roommate. She had been in my ward the previous year, and it seemed to me that there was not one thing I could find in common with her. I was full of pride when she moved in, and I almost went out of my way not to get along with her.
The first couple of months were miserable. I had no desire to try to make things work with her, and I did all I could to be gone if I knew she was going to be home.
Then, all of us, except the fourth roommate of which I spoke, watched General Conference together in October. During one of the talks, all of us felt quite inspired that we needed to begin having apartment scripture study and prayer together. The following Monday morning, we began a new tradition in our apartment that we continued as long as we were roommates, which involved praying together and then passing around the scriptures as we each read three verses. We didn’t always have time to read scriptures together, but we made sure we always prayed before we left for our respective destinations of the day.
Ever since the day we started this new tradition, it seemed the problems we had as roommates just vanished. Each of us still had our individual trials, and once in awhile we still got a little irritated with each other, but it didn’t last as it had before. We even found that we were able to turn to each other in times of need, and that surprisingly, we all had a lot more in common than we originally thought.
President Thomas S. Monson said during that conference I referred to, “It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.” (Three Goals to Guide You, Ensign, Nov. 2007, 120). It is so true! Having daily prayer together transformed the entire feeling of our apartment, and it turned that year (which I thought would be miserable) into one I will be forever grateful for.
I cannot begin to enumerate the many other similar experiences I have had with prayer, but there have been many and each has touched me deeply. Again, I would like to end this section with another of my favorite hymns (You are probably starting to notice by now that I really like the way the hymns explain certain principles. If you have some time, grab a hymn book, and really ponder the lyrics of some of the hymns. It’s powerful!).
Ere you left your room this morning,
Did you think to pray?
In the name of Christ, our Savior,
Did you sue for loving favor
As a shield today?
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
So, when life gets dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.
When your heart was filled with anger,
Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother,
That you might forgive another
Who had crossed your way?
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
So, when life gets dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.
When sore trials came upon you,
Did you think to pray?
When your soul was full of sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow
At the gates of day?
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
So, when life gets dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.
(#140-Did You Think to Pray?)
CHAPTER FIVE: I HAVE FAITH IN THE IMPORTANCE OF SCRIPTURE STUDY
(#140-Did You Think to Pray?)
CHAPTER FIVE: I HAVE FAITH IN THE IMPORTANCE OF SCRIPTURE STUDY
When I think of how scripture study has affected my life, there are few specific experiences that come to mind. They may seem small and insignificant, but they were powerful to me, and have helped to mold my life bit by bit.
The summer I turned sixteen, our stake, combined with another stake, conducted a Youth Wilderness Trek. It was not the typical youth trek you hear about (you know, with handcarts and pioneer clothes). The trek started off at our stake center, where we were split into families, and then over the course of a few hours, each family was sent off separately from the rest. If I remember correctly, each of the youth were blind-folded during the car ride, so we couldn’t see where we were being taken.
Eventually, we came to a stop in a completely dark and unfamiliar place. We had to hike in about three miles to camp, with nothing to show the way but a small sign every so often (if we were lucky enough to see it in the dark) and the moonlight above. We eventually made it to camp, and we all crashed the moment we were in our tents.
Our second day, we each received an orange for breakfast early in the morning, and then were sent off in our families for a day full of ropes-course-like activities. We weren’t given anything to eat until later that evening.
By the beginning of the third day, we were exhausted—emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We were sectioned off into large groups for testimony meetings, and then we were each sent off on a solo trek for about an hour. While we were on our solo, we were to really talk with God and ponder His word.
I remember praying for my family. I was worried for the welfare of my dad and of my younger brother. I didn’t know what I could do. I felt somewhat awkward in my pleas, not sure if I was asking the things I should. After concluding my prayer, I randomly flipped open my scriptures. Nothing stood out to me in the verses I was reading. I remember feeling lost and frustrated. Then, the wind picked up, and the pages in my scriptures began to turn themselves. The wind died down, and my Book of Mormon was opened to Alma 31. I read the following verse: “Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee” (vs 35).
I felt the Spirit wash over me as I realized my prayer had almost mirrored that of Alma the Younger. I proceeded to read the entirety of the prayer Alma offered to the Lord (Alma 31:26-35). I felt so comforted in knowing that I had been praying for the right thing. I learned then what I wouldn’t actually hear spoken until years later, “For when we want to speak to God, we pray. And when we want Him to speak to us, we search the scriptures; for His words are spoken through His prophets” (Elder Robert D. Hales, “Holy Scriptures: The Power of God Unto Our Salvation,” Ensign, Nov. 2006).
There is something I remember distinctly about my twentieth birthday. I don’t recall the celebration or even what I did for the majority of the day. I do recall, however, feeling quite distraught for several hours that morning without an understanding of why. I felt lonely and upset, and it was frustrating me to no end.
Finally, I realized that I had forgotten my scripture study that morning. I realized that if I was to set the day straight, I had to do my scripture study then and there. I pulled out my quad and sat down on the couch to read. I don’t recall what passages I read that day, but I do recall the feeling of peace that came over me as I read. The feelings of that morning were simply swept away.
It was such a small and simple experience, and yet, was so powerful in showing me the importance of putting the Lord first in my life and in finding peace by turning to the scriptures. Since that day, there have been many more days of loneliness and frustration. However, when I remember to turn to the Lord during those times and sincerely ponder His words, I am always visited with the same peace and calm I felt on that particular birthday.
I want to use one example from a session of scripture study I had that really demonstrates what a guide the scriptures can be. When I read this passage at the particular time I am referencing, it was by no means the first time I had read it. In fact, I had probably read it innumerous times before. Yet, I hadn’t learned the lesson before that I learned this time (which is often the case if we allow it to be).
One day, I was studying in the book of 1 Nephi 18. I was reading the first four verses wherein Laman and Lemuel finally consent to help Nephi build the boat, and together, they complete the ship:
"And it came to pass that they did worship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship.
"Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, either did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.
"And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.
"And it came to pass that after I had finished the ship, according to the word of the Lord, my brethren beheld that it was good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine; wherefore, they did humble themselves again before the Lord."
All of the sudden, as I read, it hit me that these verses about Nephi completely apply to my life. Now, I’ve never built a ship. However, I am building my life, and it is quite comparable to the things Nephi is discussing here. Questions began to fill my mind: After what manner am I building my life? Am I building it the way the Lord would have me build it? Do I turn to Him in prayer to show me the way? Will others see my life as good? Will my life bring other to Christ?
By reading a few verses concerning the way Nephi built the boat, I was able to thoroughly evaluate my own life and the progression I was making. The scriptures had come to life for me. It wasn’t the first time this had ever happened to me, but it was a particularly notable experience. I believe that if we put forth the effort and are living worthy of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that such experiences can be common to us.
I know that the scriptures are the word of God—I know that our Lord speaks to us through them. I know pondering the scriptures can have the power to bring peace into our lives when no other activity will. The scriptures truly are the iron rod that will show us the way back to our Father in Heaven (see 1 Nephi 11:25).
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