Prayers in Troubled Times, And Always!

  Oh, what a week!  

I am so very grateful for prayer.   I was blessed to grow up in a family where family prayer was  a given, every morning and every evening my parents would kneel together, gathering whatever children were at home for family prayer before breakfast and then again in the evening before bed.   We were taught to offer our own individual prayers each morning and evening also.  We prayed for each other, for our extended family and loved ones, for the leaders of our church, and for the leaders of our nation.  Of course we didn't forget to thank God for our blessings too.  This is a tradition we have tried to continue with our own family throughout the hears, and  I know that many of you also gather your families together often to pray together, and kneel often to pray on your own.  

I know without a doubt that this past Wednesday, the congressional leaders of the country of the United States of America were protected by the hand of God.  They were protected, in part, by the prayers of many faithful people throughout this country.  I'm grateful that those prayers were answered.  

Thank you for your prayers.  Please don't lose faith.  Please continue to pray for our country and it's leaders in the coming days and weeks and months and years.  Please gather your families, ask your friends, and plead with God to continue to strengthen and bless not only this country, but nations throughout the world during these troubled times.  

A Nation of Prayer:

YouTube link

Two Another wonderful articles and videos:

Why Is Family Prayer Important?

Does God Really Answer Prayers?

New Year 2021

Many in our weary world have taken time to rejoice during the Christmas Season these past few weeks.  It has been nice for me to take some vacation/holiday time from the regular work from home routine, to relax, prepare fairly simple gifts and cards for family, neighbors and friends, enjoy a bit more cooking of meals and treats, decorations, family zoom gatherings, singing, reading from the scriptures, listening to Christmas music, sleeping in, reading, and just plain puttering around the house.  I hope that all of you have enjoyed a pleasant Christmas holiday, and that all of you and your loved ones may be blessed with light, hope, peace, and health; and that you will not want for your daily needs to be met.

When I awoke on New Year's Day 2021, I confess that my mood was not one of rejoicing and hope.   I normally take time on New Year's Day to review my thoughts and goals from the previous New Year's Day, but my heart was not in it that morning.  I didn't have the emotional energy to think about what my goals were for the year 2020, or to deal with new plans and goals for the year 2021.  After spending most of the day reading, I did end up taking a long walk under fairly nice skies here in the neighborhood.  We warmed up some leftovers for dinner, and after family scripture and prayer time, I finally pulled out my journal and reviewed what I had written on January 1, 2020, and I came to find that I actually had accomplished quite a few of my goals for the year 2020:

• Read The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ
• Pray for each of my children and their families every day
• Plan a reunion with my siblings
• Apply for a promotion  (and I now have the new job title!)
• Learn a new app for the software at work
• Teach and train staff to handle more of the software admin responsibilities at work
• Save money
• Donate more money to those less fortunate

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of things I was able to accomplish in this past year, in spite of the challenges of a world wide pandemic, earthquakes and other natural disasters, social distancing, closing of churches and temples, a very volatile political year here in the US, and my own many inadequacies.  

We were not able to travel and visit with family nor meet our newest grandson, but we have started having virtual family zoom meetings or google chats or jackbox.com game nights on a regular basis.

My sibling reunion was not nearly what was hoped for, but it did happen.

I wasn't able to attend the temple every month this year, but I did attend in January, February and March, and we have a new temple being constructed just a little over a mile from our home.

I did not memorize "The Living Christ", but I did study it extensively, and blogged about it every day during the month of April.  

I did not get my entire over-grown garden dug out, but I did spend  some quality time working parts of the garden, and we enjoyed some delicious peas and potatoes and green beans and peppers and tomatoes during the growing season.  I even made a batch of chili sauce and a batch of grape jelly!

I haven't completely decluttered this poor house, but with the help of several of our children, we have made some amazing progress.

So, now, what are my plans for 2021?  This year they are fairly simple.  

• Hang on!
• Continue to pray every day to learn God's will for me.
• Develop stronger Faith, Hope and Charity.
• Serve others.
• Declutter.
• Organize.
• Simplify.
• Create.

My hopes for 2021:

• Miracles
• Mercy
• God Will Prevail