Petitioning the Lord

Today, a good friend reminded me of an important gospel principle - petitioning the Lord through prayer.  I am a firm believer in prayer.  I pray in the morning, throughout the day, and at night.  We pray as a family and we encourage our children to do their individual, personal prayers.  In spite of my convictions about prayer, what this sweet sister shared with me really opened my eyes.  As I was talking to her about a particular situation and whether I should share my concerns with the next level of authority, she said to me, "Luana, petition the Lord.  Be specific and ask for what you feel should happen.  If we petition the Lord, He will answer our prayers."  I was humbled by her faith.  Here I was venting and a bit frustrated that nothing had been done to alleviate the situation, and here was this faithful sister gently reminding me to pray.  It made me reflect on how I pray.

I can get deep with Heavenly Father.  I unload my burdens sometimes as I pray to Him, but my friend reminded me to be specific.  To ask the Lord to make it happen.  I started to think, gee, If I am willing to go to the next level to voice my concerns and say what I think should happen, why don't I just go straight to the top, to Heavenly Father himself, and ask Him?

Sometimes we unintentionally put too much burden on our Priesthood leaders.  We forget that they are praying for answers and those answers don't always come right away.  We also forget that we can petition the Lord ourselves.  We can specifically ask for the things we need, want, or feel should happen.  We can pray for our Priesthood Leaders, that they will receive inspiration, guidance, and direction and then have the faith and courage to act upon it.  Even our Prophet - President Thomas M. Monson humbly asked us to pray for him at this last General Conference.  If he stands in need of our prayers, how much do our leaders need our prayers as well.

Lesson learned - petition the Lord!  Then, "trust in the Lord they God with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understandings.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5).