Some thoughts on prayer

The beginning of this is actually from my journal from a few weeks ago:
My thoughts are on prayer tonight. Probably because I just had a great prayer- I’ve felt it lacking in my life recently. So often I just pray when I’m rushed in the morning or when I’m really sleepy at night and I don’t really converse. So I really tried tonight. It felt so good to be in communion with my Father in Heaven again. Never do I feel more close to heaven then when I really, sincerely pray- when I put my heart into it. Its the best feeling in the whole world- to know that God, The God of the whole universe- to know that He is listening specifically to you- to feel His presence near you. Nothing compares to that feeling. That is one of the reasons why I am so grateful for the revelation to prophets that God has a real body of flesh and bone. That means when I pray, there is somebody there physically who is really listening. I’m not just talking to the sky or some idea of divinity, I know we are created in God’s image, so I have some idea of what God looks like (just that He looks like us), so I am actually talking to a physical being who hears me and answers me and who I can picture. I know He is there, I have felt His spirit when I speak to Him many times.

Anyway, I want to relate a story that a good friend related to me about prayer. This friend of mine wrote me on my mission and gave me some advice that his mission president gave him when he was serving a mission. His mission president told him to think- to really ponder- what is the deepest desire of his heart. Then, he advised him to pray with all the energy of his heart for this cause over an extended period of time and to see what happens. He did this. The desire of his heart at the time was for his brother who was not going to church and who had lost his testimony of Christ’s gospel. He wished for him to be active and to marry a faithful girl in the temple. He prayed for some time about it (over a year), and my friend wrote me that his brother had met a faithful girl and she had brought him back to church. After a while, he did marry her in the temple. My friend testified to me of the power of prayer and told me I should take the same challenge. So I did. I think I can say it truly changed my thoughts on the physical power of prayer. I prayed to know what the true desires of my heart were. I came up with 4 things (I suppose I’m a bit more needy than my friend here). Anyway, I won’t say what they were since all of them involve people who may or may not read this blog at some point and I don’t want to embarrass anyone. But I can testify that God truly does hear and answer sincere prayers. Not all of my 4 desires have been granted- far from it actually. But tangible progress has definitely been made in each of the 4 areas. Miracles, one might call them. I see them that way at least. Another cool thing about this little story is that my mission companion at the time that I received this letter also decided to try it out. She prayed for her sister who was in the similar situation to my friend’s brother above. After 4 months of praying, my companion received an email from her family that this sister’s husband had decided to be baptized- since then her sister has made considerable steps in coming back as well. In my companion’s closing testimony of her mission, she related this story and told everyone else to ponder on the true desires of their hearts and pray with all the energy they have. Pretty cool, I think.