Pray like a prophet

I was reading through my journal the other day. That is always amusing. But a couple of years ago when I was at the Purdue Singles Branch we had an FHE lesson by Matt Christiansen. It was a great lesson that has stuck with me for a long time. It was how to pray like a prophet. Elder Bednar had spoken to him and a bunch of other missionaries when he was on his mission and had told them a story. (Unfortunately I don't remember all the details, but the point will come across) He was talking about an early prophet in the church who was with a group of men and they were away from their homes. At the time they couldn't get back home and they were starving from lack of resources in the area. They had finally found something edible in area to eat but it was making the men sick and not sustaining them like they had thought. At first the prophet prayed to find better things to eat that would not be so hard on their bodies. He prayed for a while for this but nothing seemed to be coming along. It finally occurred to him to pray that their bodies would learn to digest the food and would give them nourishment. After that the men got better and regained their strength.

As Matt was telling us this story it occurred to me that his prayer worked because he was praying not for the world to change, or for God to change, but that he could change. We are not on this earth to conform the will of the Lord to our situation, but to be more like Christ and to fit ourselves to the will of God.

I was thinking about this on my drive home last night. I was wondering if i have ever prayed like a prophet. And if i have, if i have ever been changed to fit my circumstance. It came into my mind a time when i was with Amy. It was about 10 (or so) years ago. (Amy, you will love this story.) We were in Muncie and locked out of Amy's house. We both had to go to the bathroom really bad. I think we were both dancing on her porch. No one was home, and i am pretty sure Amy was laughing hysterically. (Which often occurs when she has to pee.) Cell phones were not a popular thing at the time and neither one of us had one. We were trying to figure out what to do. We decided on saying a prayer. I think Amy said it. And at some point she prayed that we wouldn't have to go to the bathroom anymore. We said Amen and both looked up at each other, neither one of us having to use that bathroom anymore. It was the early days of my (LDS) church going experience and i remember it made a huge impression on me. It still does. It showed me that the Lord loves us so much that he cares about even the little things like when we have to go to the bathroom. Amy's mom pulled up shortly after and Amy and I called dibs on which bathroom we would take.

So i have decided i am going to start praying more like a prophet.