Monday, September 15, 2014

Heavenly Insight

Okay, so I debated on writing on here because this feels more like a journal entry but the whole house is quiet and dark and so will just type it up quick cause it won't leave me. 

First of all I'm grateful for first world problems.  I love them.  Give them all to me...not really, that is a bad joke...But seriously having some plumbing issues and just keep thinking, I much prefer first world problems, at least we have the money to fix it...knocking on wood :)

okay but for real I had a cool thing happen to me.  So I'm sorta addicted to the mormon conversations podcasts that I've been listening to on my phone.   And last night as I finally was sewing (which I remembered is really a bunch of ironing and cutting before you actually sew anything)...I was listening to an interview with Elder D Todd Christofferson and his wife.  And he was talking about receiving personal revelation in prayer. 

Backup...so this is how I normally pray to receive personal revelation. 

I know you are supposed to listen not just pray like you are placing an order so I pray and have a question, and then I try to listen for the answer and then sometimes I get a thought in my head or peace about what I'm worried about or a feeling or sometimes even I feel like I don't get anything but just tell Him my frustrations and stresses. This works. And if I'm having an issue with the kids I can go and pray and ask and find out what I am supposed to do or at least the next step. Or this year sometimes I will just pray and say Help me, I don't know what to do. 

But then some mornings I start the day with... So what do you want me to do today or who should I talk to?  and then I listen and wait and someone or something pops into my head and I try to right it down before I forget.  I am not perfect at this and I would say half at most but I do try to listen and sometimes my prayers are better at times than others...you get me, i'm normal :)  Especially because I don't think God is just supposed to tell us what to do about everything, we are supposed to figure out an answer ourselves and then go to Him to see if it right. 

But what if I don't even know what question to ask? Or what I should be praying about at all? 

What I learned from Elder Christofferson's podcast was that we should just listen more.  Without having a question and spend more time just starting the prayer and listening. Just opening the prayer and then being quiet.   Without having a question in mind or a direction.  Which I thought was just an interesting thing and so this morning I decided to try it. 

So before everyone was awake,  I said my prayer, I just was like, Dear Heavenly Father, okay now tell me about Luke...what does he need?  And I listened and was quiet.  And a very specific idea came to mind.  And so I paused my prayer and grabbed a pencil quick and paper and wrote it down.  And then I said, okay, got it, now tell me about Darby.  And again another specific thing came to my mind and I wrote in down.  And then I asked him about Baylie and Paisley and Ivy and wrote what He told me down as well for them.  And then I asked him about Jason, what does he need?  And I got two words to mind that I wrote down. 

And then I came to me.  And that part was a little hard.  one because I had a hard time quieting my mind and focusing.  And another because I'm still not super great at listening, but I think I got out one thing about me.  JOY.  He just wants me to have JOY and work on having that.  and so I will.  Whether that be in mormon conversations podcasts, or projects, or service or feeling healthy or living in the moment, I'm going to work on having and keeping joy. 

Okay, so then I was really excited!  I had my list and it was from God!  God told me exactly what my family needed even when I didn't know what question to ask!  I seriously love that little scribbled list because it reminds me what I need to do and that it happened and it was real!  And so if you know me at all, I want to tell someone how neat this is so as soon as Jason came home from seminary I said, Guess what?  I heard this talk by Elder Christoffson about prayer and listening and so I tried it and it worked.  And so here is what I found out about the kids and even you! (I actually didn't tell him all of what Jesus told me about Jason but some things are just between me and Him, ya know). 

And then about ten minutes later Luke came to brush his teeth in my bathroom cause the other one is always a bit crowded :)  and I said, Luke guess what?  And I was serious and said this cool thing happened I listened to the thing Elder Christofferson said about listening and prayer and then I prayed about you and asked Him to tell me what Luke needs and He told me and do you want to hear what is it??? and He said yes and he was sort of excited too.  And it was neat.  And so we talked about it and then He worked on what I had told him and it worked!  And then He told me afterschool that He worked on it and how cool about getting personal revelation and inspiration and we both acted on it!!  And isn't that neat?!!  And we just had a neat mother son moment there that only us know exactly about what but it ended being about school something I didn't know, but the Lord did!  He knew what was in my son's heart and weighing on my son's mind. 

And then after school I told Darby about what I had felt about her and we worked on it together and it was wonderful!  and then she felt good too!  And then Baylie (now I didn't actually tell Baylie hers and that was kinda the nature of it (hers was just that she needed LOVE but I worked on it without her knowing and it was great!) and then Paisley I would say I tried but need to do better tomorrow and Ivy I tried and was more successful but still could work on it and was kinda thinking WOW, I sure have a lot of kids and only one of me but then just thought...hey I tried my best and the focus is there. and now that I'm typing this I think Paisleys ended up working out at the same time as Darby's even though thats not how I intended it to go. 

Soo, our toilet is still broke and not sure if I can run the dishwasher tonite or else that bathroom might over flow but wow I don't even care cause this is neat stuff we are talking about here. 

I'm sure some of you smarty pants have been praying like this all along but I sure could use the help. Because I pray for my kids everyday and want it all for them good stuff like health, safety, learning, growing, good friends, testimony building, love, etc all of that but don't always know if I'm covering all the basis.  But shifting it to just thinking about them and then listening to what God wants me to know about them that day, and then righting it down, sure seems more doable and as their mother I know I can receive that revelation from God because they are His children too!  and He knows them better than me. 

So here is the thing world, I'm going to let you in on a secret.  I have been praying about a few things for a while know.  Specific things that are real and important.  And what I have found and am still finding is that God is real and knows each one of us.  And He is giving me the miracles I need not necessary the ones I'm trying to order.  This has hit me hard recently.  And I know if you listen, He will tell you about you and your life and if you ask Him to tell you what the ones love need and listen, than you will hear it too. 

It takes practice.  I have been practicing a while, not always successfully.  But I am still trying to listen.  Especially when it comes to listening about myself, that is the hardest of all. 

Ya know I want my blog to be fun and funny and not bore ya to tears but what this is the good stuff folks.  This is really all that matters in life, our relationship to God and learning to listen to Him and doing what He wants us to do in our life.   It's all part of life CPR...church, pray, read.  You cannot listen effectively if you aren't reading the scriptures and going to church.  Its would be like having one finger plugging your ears!  We need them all!

So while I have yet to receive the miracles that I have praying for a long time now,  I have had other miracles in my life and our needs met and glad to learn priceless little gems like these on a regular old weekday...to listen a little better. 

and just to share a few ones because I feel like details make it more real and I don't love when people talk vaguely (by the way, if you ask me in person I will give you more details, or on the phone)...but for Darby....7God told me that she needed to cook dinner...and then cook some more.  So she and I made sloppy joes and she learned to how to cut a pineapple tonite...and it was all delicious :)  

Good luck to you if and your listening prayers, tell me what you hear!  (and yes, I'm sorta scared to put this post out there because it might jinx me having the crappiest day ever tomorrow for being so dang optimistic...I swear it happens every time...ahh the highs and lows of life!) and I'll be praying my toilet gets fixed!

4 comments:

Nancy Jo said...

Great post. I need to listen more. I think it was really neat how you shared it with the kids. Thanks for sharing. You are awesome!

RachelAA said...

Well, you did bring me to tears but not from boredom. Yesterday I was contemplating on the fact that I have noticed Jackson has been holding my hand a lot lately. He's snuggling up to me more. Those moments are sweet but when those moments aren't happening, he's usually grumpy as heck. So I've been pondering about this and am still not quite sure. Thank you for being an answer to my silent prayer today.

Heather said...

I love these type of post just as much as the funny ones about the kids. Truly inspiring!

Than and Erica said...

This could be my favorite blog post of yours ever.