Our family was asked to speak in church on Sunday. We were each given a topic and had a week to prepare. Mine was on prayer. How easy! I have had many prayers answered recently. I pondered over and prayed about my talk all week. I studied a lot. I went to the temple. I felt I had a pretty good idea of what I was supposed to teach. Then Saturday came and I felt nothing, like a stupor of thought and just began to feel sad that I couldn’t think of what to say. I grew frustrated at the silence that seemed to fill my line of revelation from above. I had decided earlier in the week that I would fast Saturday for 24 hours so that I would be ending my fast after we gave our talks. I wrote my outline and rough draft so I’d be prepared even though I was not “feeling it”. Sunday morning while getting ready for church I put on some music. The very first song that played was “Abide with me tis eventide”. All of a sudden, like a waterfall of inspiration and revelation I knew that the talk I had planned wasn’t the one I was to give.so I stood at the pulpit less than an hour after that experience to speak completely by the spirit.

I began by talking of the account in the book of Mormon from third Nephi when Christ visited the nephites after his resurrection. I pointed out how before this there had been horrible earthquakes and complete darkness in the land. Imagine how traumatic that would be for a child! Seeing people die in horrific ways all around you, the earth broken up and then complete darkness for three whole days! As a parent I can imagine how hard that would be to see my children scared and trying to keep them safe. It is under these circumstances that Jesus asks the little children to be brought to him. Each one is brought close-up and they encircle Jesu. He then prays to the father and says that he is troubled because of the wickedness of the house of Israel. Here a resurrected perfected being, a God still prays to our heavenly Father! He is noticeably upset and concerned for the wickedness that surrounded those little children in the world they had lived in. Then he prays words that cannot even be written because they were so beautiful!they said that it “filled their hearts with joy! “We can have that joy and feel that close to our Savior as we pray n his name to the Father.

  I was a new missionary, my companion sister Hill and I had our plans for the day, but, as we were preparing to leave I had an impression that we should stop by sister Peterson’s for a visit. She was the primary president in our branch, her husband in the bishopric. They had 5 beautiful children and if there ever was a woman who permeated happiness and joy, it was her. She served others constantly and was always wearing a smile. We stopped at her house on a cold winter’s day. I knocked and no one answered, “so much for inspiration!” I thought and turned to walk away. then I knocked again. She came to the door and let us in. we shared a brief message with her and were getting ready to leave when I did something really weird. I asked, “Can we sing you a song before we go?” Luckily my companion was more than willing and we happen to be carrying a pocket hymn book. I opened it flipped through several pages and then stopped at “abide with me”. We sang along with unseen angels whose voices I heard joining sister Hills  “oh savior stay this night with me behold tis even tide..’ sister Peterson was crying, tears streaming down her face. We kept singing all three verses.  when we finished she told us how when she was pregnant with her first child and only married a short time her husband was diagnosed with cancer. after long treatments and almost a year of suffering he passed away. The night he died they held on tightly to each other’s hands and sang together  all three verses of “abide with me tis eventide”. It is incredible to me to know for myself that God would send even two little missionaries to answer one of his most beloved daughters’ prayers. Since that day I have made it a habit to ask in my morning prayer to be guided to be an instrument in Gods hand to answer the prayers of one of my brothers and sisters here on earth ,because in sister Petersons home I found for myself the absolute sheer joy of being on an errand for the Lord. I love the example and words from president Monson…he said:

“My brothers and sisters, the Lord’s purposes are often accomplished as we pay heed to the guidance of the Spirit. I believe that the more we act upon the inspiration and impressions which come to us, the more the Lord will entrust to us His errands.”…

“I never cease to be amazed by how the Lord can motivate and direct the length and breadth of His kingdom and yet have time to provide inspiration concerning one individual—The fact that He can, that He does, is a testimony to me.”

In closing I will go back to where we began in third Nephi,

“And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.

And he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.

 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

I can testify through many, many experiences that this joy felt by the nephites can also be ours as we pray unto the Father as Jesus did, and then get up and go to bless the lives of his children as Christ did to each nephrite child, one by one.. This is where true joy is found. I know it! This is what will make us worthy to stand at his feet and be spared the destruction prophesied when He comes to earth again.