Prayers

For the past 5 years Scott and I have made a point of saying prayer with Donovan each night that we have him. When he was smaller we would sing to him "I Am a Child of God" in Portuguese before we would say prayer. Now Donovan just wants us to say prayer, and normally he wants us to say short ones. Lately though he has started to really blossom as he prays. He thinks about what he wants to say and some of the sweetest things comes out of his mouth. At other times it kind of makes me sad, like "Please help Genevieve not to be mad" (Which he said after I had a hard day and was kind of grumpy). We've also started to make sure we say prayer with meals. Tonight as I put dinner on the table he looks at me with his cute little grin and says "So, will you offer the prayer please." Okay, I guess since Daddy isn't at home he feels like he is the man of the house! We've started to try and get Gavin to fold his arms, I think that is going to be a long process! He thinks prayer time is the time to crawl around on Donovan's bed and play!

On our way home tonight Donovan asked why God created tornadoes and earthquakes. We got into a rather deep discussion on how God lets the earth be ruled by science and how God doesn't always just create a national disaster, they just happen. We did then discuss how God made earthquakes when His Son Jesus Christ was killed on the cross. We then talked about a story from the Book of Mormon when God used an earthquake to get a missionary out of prison. He got all excited about the story and told me that I was really smart. He wanted to know how I got so smart. I told him that I read the Book of Mormon and the Bible. His next comment really got to me. Made me smile, and my heart just warm. "And the Holy Spirit taught it to you." It is truly amazing how he is really starting to grasp concepts from the gospel.

It has been rather fulfilling the last couple of weeks having Donovan visit us for the summer. Each night we say prayer. Up until this summer his prayers were kind of paper cutter Tonight as he blessed EVERYONE and their mothers I felt guilty for hurrying him along (Gavin was going crazy in my arms. He wanted to play and wanted nothing to do with nighttime prayer).

In the last three weeks I've had an experience that in a way has brought me closer to the Savior. Scott and I found out we were expecting another sweet spirit, however that joy was rather short lived. We soon learned that we would be losing the baby. It hurt knowing that we wouldn't get to raise this child. See it grow in the gospel. In the beginning before it was an inevitability I remember praying to our Father in Heaven and felt a bit as the Savior did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Mathew 26:39 shares how the Savior prayed to his Father and said "O my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as though wilt." I wanted this baby, but I knew that the Lord had something else in mind.

In one of the blessings that I received I was promised that as I read my scriptures I would be comforted. Interestingly enough, that is exactly what happened. Mosiah 3:7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer. I know that he suffered all these things so that he might know how to succor his people. He knows how I am feeling, both physically as I go through the pain of a miscarriage and emotionally.

I don't know what lesson I am supposed to learn through this loss. It could be that I needed to get myself into a better place physically. I know I have been slacking on my scripture study. I have some things that I want to do so that when the Lord does fulfill his promise "you shall know the love of a large family." I will be ready.

Introductions

I have always wanted to be like one of the mothers of the "Stripling Warriors", a story from the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. “Yea, they [the 2000 stripling warriors] had been taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” (Alma 56: 47-48). As I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ I always listened to the story of how the Prophet Helaman lead two thousand young men into battle. These young men were the children of the people of Jershon who had been converted to Christianity by a missionary named Ammon. The Ammonites made a promise to bury their weapons of war and never shed blood and "rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives." (Alma 24:18) After their enemy the Lamanites attacked them the Nephites began to defend them, honoring the promise the Ammonites had made. When the Ammonites saw how the Nephites were suffering to defend them they almost broke their oath. Two thousand of their sons who had been too young when the oath had been made came forward and volunteered to fight. Helaman, who was a church leader among the Nephites became their Army commander. They became one of the most effective military units in the war. Although many of them were wounded in battle not a single one of them perished in the war. Helaman attributes this miracle to the fact that "the Lord has supported them, yea, and kept them from falling by the sword, insomuch that even one soul has not been slain. But behold, they have received many wounds; nevertheless they stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has made them free; and they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments continually; and their faith is strong in the prophecies concerning that which is to come." Helaman shared a bit about who these young men were. He tells us more about these young men in Alma 57:21 “Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every work of command with exactness; yea and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.”

I want to be one of those mothers that teaches my children to have faith in the Lord, to follow His commandments, and live their lives so that although they may be scratched from life's woes, they might not perish. The other day at church I looked at my 5 year old stepson Donovan and my one year old son Gavin and my heart just welled with love and the words from one of my favorite songs, Armies of Helaman written by Janice Kapp Perry, washed through my mind.

We have been born, as Nephi of old,
To goodly parents who love the Lord.
We have been taught, and we understand,
That we must do as the Lord commands.

We have been saved for these latter days
To build the kingdom in righteous ways.
We hear the words our prophet declares:
“Let each who’s worthy go forth and share.”

We know his plan, and we will prepare,
Increase our knowledge through study and prayer.
Daily we’ll learn until we are called
To take the gospel to all the world.

Chorus
We are as the army of Helaman.
We have been taught in our youth.
And we will be the Lord’s missionaries
To bring the world his truth.

I hope that as the years go by I am able to teach my children all that is in my heart. I hope that I might help them prepare for whatever life has in store for them. I hope that whatever they choose to do with their lives that they may know their father and I love them.