Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Keep Praying


I haven't blogged in ages, since my China days.  I figured that my life wasn't exciting anymore and I wasn't doing anything worth blogging about.  But then I realized that I don't have to be riding elephants or  floating down the Li River in order to blog.  So, I'm going to give it another shot but my focus might be a little bit different.  We will just see what happens...

I've been thinking a lot about sharing the gospel via social media lately.  Mainly because we just had a stake Share Fair where we talked about how easy it is to share the gospel.  It is right at our fingertips, literally.  I'm not one to share or post a lot of things on Facebook, or any social media, really.  and I usually just keep my thoughts to myself but I realized that I can do more.  I can click "like" when I see all those posts about how awesome Meet the Mormons is and I can post an inspiring quote that I come across.  It might not be much but it's something more that I can do.  At the Share Fair they kept saying, "Let's turn the trickle into a flood."  We want good and positive things to come up when people google Mormons and what we believe.  So write a review for the Kindle version of the Book or Mormon and write a review for the church building or temple that you attend on Google maps.  It's easy and it is something that we all can do.

On a different note...  Prayer has been a lot on my mind lately.  I have had a few sweet and special experiences while I have been working these last few weeks.  Yes, my life has moved on since I have come home from China.  I am back to reality and I don't travel somewhere new every weekend.  I know, shocker.  I am working at Provo Rehab and Nursing.  I work the night shift, so from 6am to 6pm.  I love it, it is great!  I do wish that I had a Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm job but I am starting to think that I picked the wrong profession if I wanted that...  Oh well.  Anyways, I was at work a few weeks ago and I went into one of my patient's rooms.  She is a sweet, sweet lady who just had her roommate pass away a couple of nights before.  Her and her roommate were great friends.  They took care of eachother and it was a sweet thing to see.  I asked my patient how she was doing since her dear friend had passed away.  She said to me, "I really miss her and now I have no one to say my night prayers with."  It broke my heart as I saw her get teary eyed as she spoke to me.  I asked her if she would like for me to come in later once she got into bed and say her prayers with her.  She quickly agreed.  I went into her room a little later, as promised.  I asked her if she wanted to say the prayer but she wanted me to.  So I stood by her bed (because who wants to kneel on the floor of a medical facility??  No one should.) and said a prayer with her.  I opened my eyes when I was finished and saw tears running down her face.  I gave her a big hug and left her room so she could go to sleep.

That same night, one of my patients was out in the hall anxious saying how she was scared and didn't like being in her room all alone.  I knew that she was a member of the church so I offered to put her to bed and say her night prayer with her.  Her eyes lit up when I suggested this.  I wheeled her into her room and I sat by her on her bed as I prayed with her.  She held my hand the entire time and was also crying by the time the prayer was over.

I thought about these two experiences all night and for the days following.  I have continued to pray with these two ladies every time that I work and the experience is still the same as the first time.  I have learned a couple valualbe lessons from doing this.  First, sometimes people just need to know that someone cares and most of the time it only takes about five minutes of your time.  Work is busy around the time that people are trying to go to bed.  I could have easily dismissed the feelings that I had to pray with these two ladies but I am so glad that I didn't.  It can just take five mintues to show someone that they are loved.  We are all so busy but can we maybe just spare five minutes?  Think about it.  I also gained a stronger testimony of the power of prayer.  We can always pray.  He is always listening.  Heavenly Father cares about what is happening in our life and he wants us to talk to Him.  He is there waiting and He is just a prayer away.

I recently read a devotional given at BYU-Hawaii.  It is called The Power of Personal Prayer.  It was great and I suggest you read it.

I also came across this simple video.


Keep praying.


Also...  My family came into town this last weekend.  It was so fun having them here for a couple of days!