The Book of Mormon, it's the BOM: Don't Forget To Pray (2 Nephi 32)

I uttered my first prayer when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I didn't quite know how to pray, as I recall, but I knew some words that seemed to make me feel good. Words like "Bible", "God", "Mary", "Joseph" and "Gospel". I would say these words out loud to myself before I went to sleep. Sometimes memories from childhood can be a bit sketchy, but I really believe that saying those words aloud made me feel better. They had a calming effect. And I remember feeling less afraid of the dark.

Saying those words, Bible, Gospel, God, Mary and Joseph, may not have been the most eloquent prayer ever uttered, but God answers all sincere prayers, even if we don't know what to say to Him. Prayer brings light where there was darkness, and hope where there was fear.

2 Nephi 32: 8-9

Chapter 32 in 2nd Nephi is a shorty, but a goody. It's really worth the read. Verses 8 and 9 really stand out to me because they ~~are yellow~~ have helped me to pray many times, even when I didn't feel like it, or worse, didn't feel I like I was worthy enough to speak to Him. According to Nephi's calculations, if you feel like not praying, or feel like you shouldn't pray, or feel like The Lord doesn't want to hear from you today, those dark thoughts aren't coming from a very reliable source.

Story Time!!!

This is actually a fairly long story, and I've most likely already used it in a previous post, so I'm going to brief-a-tize it. While serving a mission for The Church in Oxford, Ohio in 19 & 88, mein kampf & I had tracted a road about 5 miles out of town. It was a long road and it was a hot day, and it was dark by the time we got back to our apartment. Upon discovering that we had lost our tracting record, and, therefore, had no way of knowing who had asked us to come back and who had thrown us out, we decided we'd better ride our bikes the 5 miles back to where we knew we last had it. On the way out there were faint remnants of light on the horizon, but on the way back it was completely dark.

Imagine the picture above, but without the headlight on, that's what it looked like. We rode our bikes in the center of the road with our eyes looking down. We could barely make out the road directly beneath us, but nothing in front of us. All the sudden both of us darted to the side of the road at the same time. Just as we did so, a vehicle sped passed us with no lights on. Didn't see it coming; didn't hear it coming. We didn't know it was coming until it past us. The only light on it was the license plate light. Why we both darted to the right at the same time remains a mystery to us, but not to The Lord.

Then there was the dog

Riding by a farm, we were chased by a dog. Imagine the photo above, but with all the lights turned out. I could here the dog's feet hitting the road, and I could hear the dog's breathing growls, but couldn't see where he was. Now, that freaked me out. Was I scared? You are speaking with someone who has laughed in the face of death -- sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe. I was petrified.

Well, what did you do????

At that scary moment in the dark I prayed. A song jumped into my head and I started to sing it to myself. Peace came to me. The dark wasn't so dark anymore. And, best of all, I was still alive and in possession of both of my pant legs.

The Song: Ere You Left Your Room This Morning