I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I joined back in 1964 after a long struggle with faith. I had loved the Savior ever since I could remember, but the church of my youth deserted me as it moved into the intellect movement of the 60's. Without spiritual guidance, I fell away. The Lord distinguished between the words of my mouth and the longing of my heart. He knew that I wanted to believe and so he sent a young woman who told me the story of the Restored Gospel. She bore her testimony of Jesus Christ and promised me that I could know for myself and have my own testimony.

Now forty-six years later I can only thank her from the bottom of my heart for introducing me to the church. Indeed I do have my own testimony. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, called to restore Christ's church to the earth. We have a prophet today who leads and guides us. I am so grateful for Latter-day scriptures that bear testimony of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is the Word of God. It stands as another witness of the Savior and it's truths have touched my life in very personal ways.

I hope that my poetry reflects the growth of my testimony and my love for Jesus Christ.

Daily Prayer

 

My whole life I have been trying to understand prayer.  As a child I was taught rote prayers.  They were meaningful yet limiting but I was never taught that you would just "talk" to the Lord.  In my mind He was like the Wizard of Oz - so magnificent that you could not address Him like you would a human being.  And so I developed my own litany as I prayed each night.  I prayed the Lord's Prayer, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, and then added the 23rd Psalm, the Beatitudes, and other scriptures I had memorized.  I just wanted to make my communication with deity meaningful.  Then one night when I was teen I knelt and talked to the Lord.  I began by apologizing for talking to Him so casually "but I just need to talk to you." is what I said.  And so I began praying in my own way. 

Over the years I have tried to make this time mean something - this time of talking to Father.  But it was not until I reached a crisis in life that I really prayed.  I don't expect that I am that different from most people.  On a good day my prayers are different that on a bad day.  I am still working at making my prayers better.  I know that I cannot rush my time with the Lord.  And so now I try to think of prayer as the time I get to visit with Him - to actually be with Him.  And I spend a lot more time just listening.  I am just grateful that He always has time for me. 

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