We’ve reached a climactic time when culture and technology challenge faith and reality. Does God exist and intervene in humans’ lives? Can someone really pray to God? Does God answer prayers? Yes!
Through the tumult that surrounds me flows a river of peace.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll—
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
It is well with my soul;
It is well, it is well with my soul.
That peace freely flows through me because of my connection to Deity, made possible by the simple act of prayer.
I thought I’d share the foundation stone of my personal prayer.
As an 8-year-old child, my Grandmother Genevieve challenged me to read the Book of Mormon. She said at the completion of the task, she’d give me $5. That was a lot of money back in the late 1900s when I was a child.
My family read the Book of Mormon together, but I had never read it on my own. After many months, I finished the Book of Mormon and collected a shiny $5 silver coin for my efforts.
Around that same time, my primary teacher taught a lesson on prayer and had us read Moroni’s challenge at the end of the Book of Mormon in class:
Moroni 10:3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and it in your .
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ; and if ye shall ask with a , with , having in Christ, he will the of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may the of all things.
My teacher taught us different ways that the Lord spoke to us through the Holy Ghost, and challenged us to pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon was true, so we could know that God answers prayers.
Later that afternoon, I found a quiet time in my shared room, climbed onto my bed on the top bunk, knelt down, and prepared to pray. I knew the story of Enos, where he wrestled all day and night for an answer from the Lord. I resolved that I would not leave my spot until I had my answer from God, even if it took all day and night.
I prayed a simple, memorable prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
My teacher told us that if we asked if the Book of Mormon is true, you would tell us the answer. Is the Book of Mormon true?
And my waiting wrestle began.
I honestly don’t know how long I patiently waited for an answer; I didn’t have any true concept of time then and didn’t even think about knowing how long it took God to answer me, but in my determined, squirmy patience, I waited until a peaceful voice came to my mind.
Delisa, you already know the Book of Mormon is true.
I recognized the voice was not mine, but divine. I felt peace, which gave me complete confidence in the experience. I also knew that what the voice told me was true. I did already know the Book of Mormon was true. That simple answer convinced me more concretely than a “yes” or “no” ever could have. As I left that bunkbed, I knew that
- Heavenly Father answered my prayer through a simple phrase to my mind, followed by peace
- The Book of Mormon was true
- God knew I knew it was true
- God knew my name and what I knew
That simple experience continues to influence my life profoundly. When I’ve forgotten how completely God knows me, my experience on that bunkbed floods my mind. I see myself on my knees, determined to experience God. And I did. God answers prayers.
Other times and about other topics, I have wrestled with God for answers to prayers. Despite the length of the wrestle, I completely trusted that God would eventually answer my prayers, because He reached down to Earth one Sunday afternoon to witness to an 8-year-old little girl that He was real and that He knew her.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In