President and Sister Clark, faculty, staff, students, brothers and sisters, friends, I am grateful for this opportunity to be here with you today. I am grateful for the fact that two of the most important people in the world to me are here today, my mother without whom I would not be here, and my dear wife without whom I will never go anywhere truly eternally significant. I am grateful for their untiring support, and for them being vertically connected with our Father in Heaven, in such away that they are the charitable women they are today. I pray that I can proceed in such a way as to not be an embarrassment to them or my children, if I can do that I will feel like I have succeeded in large measure.
It has often been my experience in the formal classroom or in other church setting, such as Sunday School, Priesthood, P.E.C. or other meetings, to hear something like this: “What can we do to protect us from Satan’s influence?” or “What can we do specifically that will help us avoid the fiery darts of the adversary?” or “What can we do to draw us closer to our Father in Heaven?” In answer to these questions I have often heard something similar to this. “Oh, you know the Sunday School answers.” or “You know, the Seminary answers.” or “I guess you would say it’s those little things.” or “it’s those simple things.” Then these responses would be followed with something like, “You know, scripture study, prayer, family home evening, family prayer, church attendance.”
Today I would like to focus on one of those simple things, that which some have called a “little thing” but I would say it is of such magnitude and importance in our lives that we can never or will never in this life gain the testimony, covenants, and power necessary to return to and dwell in the presence of our Father in Heaven without it, that simple principle is Prayer.
Several years ago, I heard the following account from this pulpit. A good Brother related that one morning he was up early preparing to go to the office. He was up well before the day had dawned, and was standing at the sink in his bathroom preparing to shave, when he saw the door to a bedroom at the end of the hall open. His young son stumbled toward him tiredly rubbing his eyes, as he got to his father this little boy looked up and said, in a very sleepy voice, “Dad, what was the first color?” This good man thought, “Where in the world did that come from?” This from a little boy, who thinks fathers know everything. The father responded, “I am not sure I know what the first color was.” With that the little boy, with an inquisitive look on his face said, just a minute. He turned and quickly made his way back to his bedroom, leaving the door agar, his father saw him kneel at his bed, with his head bowed in prayer; moments later the young boy jumped up and hurried back down the hall and said, “Pink…, the first color was pink” and turned and hurried back to bed. The father then said to us, “there you have it.” Now you know what the first color was.
President Brigham Young taught:
“Were I to draw a distinction in all the duties that are required of the children of men, from first to last, I would place first and foremost the duty of seeking unto the Lord our God until we open the path of communication from heaven to earth—from God to our own souls. Keep every avenue of your hearts clean and pure before him.”[1]
From my earliest childhood I remember being taught to pray. Some of those memories are centered on a prayer taught me by one of my sisters. It went something like:
“Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord, my soul to take.”
I have since wondered where my sister ever learned that prayer. I found it interesting while reading some of the writings of President George Albert Smith; I came across this from a conference talk given in October of 1946:
“I was trained at the knee of a Latter-day Saint mother. One of the first things I remember was when she took me by the hand and led me upstairs. In the room there were two beds, the bed in which my parents slept, and a little trundle bed over on the other side. I can remember it as if it were yesterday. When we got up stairs, she sat down by my little trundle bed. She had me kneel in front of her. She folded my hands and took them in hers, and taught me my first prayer. I will never forget it. I do not want to forget it. It is one of the loveliest memories that I have in life, an angelic mother sitting down by my bedside and teaching me to pray.
It was such a simple prayer but I can repeat it today.
‘Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.’
That was my first prayer. That prayer opened for me the windows of heaven. That prayer extended to me the hand of my Father in heaven, for she had explained to me what it all meant as far as a little child could understand. From that day until now, while I have covered approximately a million miles in the world among our Father’s other children, every day and every night wherever I have been, when I have gone to my bed or arisen form it, I have felt I was close to my Heavenly Father. He is not far away.”[2]
I do not know of a doctrine more emphasized in all of scripture than prayer. The Bible dictionary states:
“As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.”[3]
The savior instructed his disciples at the Sermon on the Mount:
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.[4]
Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught:
“Our relationship with the Father is supreme, paramount, and preeminent over all others. He is the God we worship. It is his gospel that saves and exalts. He ordained and established the plan of salvation. He is the one who was once as we are now. The life he lives is eternal life, and if we are to gain this greatest of all the gifts of God, it will be because we become like him.
Our relationship with the Father is one of parent and child. He is the one who gave us our agency. It was his plan that provided for a fall and an atonement. And it is to him that we must be reconciled if we are to gain salvation. He is the one to whom we have direct access by prayer…”
He continued:
Our prayers are addressed to the Father, and to him only. They do not go through Christ, or the Blessed Virgin, or St. Genevieve or along the beads of a rosary. We are entitled to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
And I rather suppose that he who sitteth upon the throne will choose his own ways to answer his children, and that they are numerous. Perfect prayer is addressed to the Father, in the name of the Son; and it is uttered by the power of the Holy Ghost; and it is answered in whatever way seems proper by him whose ear is attuned to the needs of his children.[5] Again to his disciples on the Mount the Savior said:
“Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”[6]
What does it mean to ask? How do we seek? What does it mean to knock? Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught:
“We cannot, for the purposes of real prayer, hurriedly dress our words and attitudes in tuxedos when our shabby life is in rags. More than we realize, being honest with God in our prayers helps us to be more honest with ourselves.”[7]
On another occasion he taught:
“Our glimpse of Gethsemane should teach us that all prayers are petitions!”[8]
When reading the Book of Mormon I have been impressed with the number of times, “Cry” or “Cried” unto the Lord appears.
1 Nephi 2:16
16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.
1 Nephi 17:7
7 And it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: Arise, and get thee into the mountain. And it came to pass that I arose and went up into the mountain, and cried unto the Lord.
2 Nephi 5:1
1 BEHOLD, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cry much unto the Lord my God, because of the anger of my brethren.
2 Nephi 33:3
3 But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry.
Enos 1:3-4
3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.
4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
Mosiah 11:
(The word of the Lord through the prophet Abinadi regarding the wicked Nephites)
24 Yea, and it shall come to pass that when they shall cry unto me I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I will suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies.
25 And except they repent in sackcloth and ashes, and cry mightily to the Lord their God, I will not hear their prayers, neither will I deliver them out of their afflictions; and thus saith the Lord, and thus hath he commanded me.
Alma 34:17 – 27
(Amulek to the inquiring Zoramites)
17 Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you;
18 Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save.
19 Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him.
20 Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.
21 Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid–day, and evening.
22 Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.
23 Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness.
24 Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.
25 Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.
26 But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.
I believe that the word cry may call for a little more intensity and effort than some of us currently put into our prayers.
I remember as a new missionary in Northern California, getting up early in the morning, often very early, sometimes 4:30 a.m. to study my discussions. My first companion was always up before me. As a result of his example I thought all missionaries did that, I thought if you were to be successful you got up then. When I would come out of the shower my companion would be reading Mormon Doctrine, with his scriptures open, cross referencing, making marginal notes. I thought wow, does every missionary do this? How am I going to keep up? I get so tired.
One night we had our companionship prayer and then knelt at our individual beds to say our prayers. I prayed what I thought was a good prayer, I tried to thank Heavenly Father for the blessing I had received, I asked for the blessings I needed. I prayed for family, for investigators, everyone my tired mind could think of and then said amen. Not wanting to disturb my companion I continued to kneel waiting for him to finish. Again I had thoughts, “I am never going to make it as a missionary, I just can’t pray that long. He is certainly going to be a District Leader, Zone Leader, or Assistant to the President. He is one of the most spiritual guys I have ever met in my life, and then I heard the very quiet deep breathing that comes as one goes into the deeper zones of sleep.
That has since happened to me on different occasions, I am not sure that is what the Lord means when he says Cry unto me.
This from Elder Maxwell:
“One can pray and yet not really pray. Prayers can be routinized and made very superficial. When this happens, there is very little communication and very little growth. Yet, given the times in which we live, improving our prayers should be one of our deepest desires if we are genuinely serious about growing spiritually.”[9]
He continued:
“Neither the pure City of Enoch nor pure prayers are arrived at in a day!”[10]
The Savior taught us how to pray when he said, “After this manner therefore pray ye"[11] Then he gave us a pattern for prayer, we address God as our Father in Heaven, we honor and we revere his hallowed name.
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”
We keep in mind that it is His will that we are seeking, and that our desires must be attuned to his desires..
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
We express thanks for blessings received and pray for our needs
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
We pray for mercy as we extend to others mercy…
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
We recognize his Omniscience and Omnipotence as we plead to be delivered from temptation and the influence of the adversary.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”[12]
Elder Dallin Oaks in April Conference 1993, instructed us in the language of prayer:
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches its members to use special language in addressing prayers to our Father in Heaven.
“When we go to worship in a temple or a church, we put aside our working clothes and dress ourselves in something better. This change of clothing is a mark of respect. Similarly, when we address our Heavenly Father, we should put aside our working words and clothe our prayers in special language of reverence and respect. In offering prayers in the English language, members of our Church do not address our Heavenly Father with the same words we use in speaking to a fellow worker, to an employee or employer, or to a merchant in the marketplace. We use special words that have been sanctified by use in inspired communications, words that have been recommended to us and modeled for us by those we sustain as prophets and inspired teachers.
“The special language of prayer follows different forms in different languages, but the principle is always the same. We should address prayers to our Heavenly Father in words which speakers of that language associate with love and respect and reverence and closeness. The application of this principle will, of course, vary according to the nature of a particular language, including the forms that were used when the scriptures were translated into that language. Some languages have intimate or familiar pronouns and verbs used only in addressing family and very close friends. Other languages have honorific forms of address that signify great respect, such as words used only when speaking to a king or other person of high rank. Both of these kinds of special words are appropriately used in offering prayers in other languages because they communicate the desired feelings of Modern English has no special verbs or pronouns that are intimate, familiar, or honorific. When we address prayers to our Heavenly Father in English, our only available alternatives are the common words of speech like you and your or the dignified but uncommon words like thee, thou, and thy which were used in the King James Version of the Bible almost five hundred years ago. Latter-day Saints, of course, prefer the latter. In our prayers we use language that is dignified and different, even archaic.
“The men whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators have consistently taught and urged English-speaking members of our Church to phrase their petitions to the Almighty in the special language of prayer. President Spencer W. Kimball said, “In all our prayers, it is well to use the pronouns thee, thou, thy, and thine instead of you, your, and yours inasmuch as they have come to indicate respect.” (Faith Precedes the Miracle, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972, p. 201.) Numerous other Church leaders have given the same counsel. (See Stephen L Richards, in Conference Report, Oct. 1951, p. 175; Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign, Jan. 1976, p. 12; and L. Tom Perry, Ensign, Nov. 1983, p. 13.)”[23]
At the beginning of a class I will ask for a volunteer to offer the opening prayer, sometimes there are long awkward moments as I wait for a hand to go up, I have noticed this in other church settings also and wondered about the hesitancy on the part of the participants. I understand that there is some discomfort and a degree of anxiousness as we are put in different social groups or settings, and believe me I certainly understand the discomfort and awkwardness one feels standing before a large group…but why do we hesitate to pray. I am sure there are many reasons. One may be that we do not want to be seen as the “hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.” This may be a legitimate reason. If it is because of fear…then we need to then we need to exercise greater faith. The Prophet Brigham Young had some interesting things to say about fear and prayer.
“Are the people going to fear? If fear is in the hearts of any of you, it is because you do not pray often enough; or when you do pray you are not sufficiently humble before the Lord. You do not plead with Him until your will is swallowed up in His. If every one of the Latter-day Saints lived up to their privileges, they would not fear the world, and all that they can do, any more than they fear that the cranes, that fly croaking three quarters of a mile above them will drop their eggs upon them to dash their brains out. You might as well fear that event, as to fear all the forces of hell, if the people were sanctified before the Lord, and would do His will every day.”[24]
Maybe you don’t volunteer because you just don’t feel like praying, well Brother Brigham had an answer for that too.
“Some of the brethren come to me and say, “Brother Brigham, is it my duty to pray when I have not one particle of the spirit of prayer in me?” True, at times, men are perplexed and full of care and trouble, their ploughs and other implements are out of order, their animals have strayed and a thousand things perplex them; yet our judgment teaches us that it is our duty to pray, whether we are particularly in the spirit of praying or not. My doctrine is, it is your duty to pray; and when the time for prayer comes, John should say, “This is the place and this is the time to pray; knees bend down upon the floor, and do so at once.” But John said, “I do not want to pray; I do not feel like it.” Knees get down, I say; and down bend the knees, and he begins to think and reflect. Can you say anything? Can you not say, God have mercy on me a sinner? Yes, he can do this, if he can rise up and curse his neighbor for some ill deeds. Now, John, open your mouth and say, Lord, have mercy upon me. “But I do not feel the spirit of prayer.” That does not excuse you, for you know what your duty is.”[26]
Brigham taught:
“The duty of the Latter-day Saints is to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks, to acknowledge the hand of the Lord in all things, and to be subject to his requirements.”[27]
Sometimes we may be angry or not feel worthy to pray. President Young gave great counsel regarding this also:
“If the Devil says you cannot pray when you are angry, tell him it is none of his business, and pray until that species of insanity is dispelled and serenity is restored to the mind”[xvii] One of my favorite passages of scripture over the years has been that great and wise counsel given form Nephi to his brethren wherein he said:
“…For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.
“but behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint.”[28]
Brigham Young said:
“It matters not whether you or I feel like praying, when the time comes to pray, pray. If we do not feel like it, we should pray till we do.”[29]
Speaking of the sincerity of prayer and the frequency of prayer President Young also taught:
“Let every man and every woman call upon the name of the Lord, and that, too, from a pure heart, while they are at work as well as in their closet; while they are in public as well as while they are in private, asking the Father in the name of Jesus, to bless them, and to preserve and guide in, and to teach them, the way of life and salvation and to enable them so to live that they will obtain this eternal salvation that we are after.”[30]
I know that often the following questions are asked by many, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and “Why does it seem that there is no listening ear?”
I certainly do not know all the answers, but I do know that by our very nature as a result of the fall of man, we will experience pain and suffering; that we will have to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow and that because of the fall, men are carnal, sensual, and devilish and therefore greedy, selfish and lustful, and as a result of that, innocent people suffer.
It does not mean that God does not love us nor does it mean that our pleading petitions fall on deaf ears. Elder Maxwell, who, himself knew something of suffering said:
“We may at times, if we are not careful, try to pray away pain or what seems like an impending tragedy, but which is, in reality, an opportunity. We must do as Jesus did in that respect-also preface our prayers by saying, "If it be possible," let the trial pass from us-by saying, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," and bowing in a sense of serenity to our Father in Heaven's wisdom, because at times God will not be able to let us pass by a trial or a challenge. If we were allowed to bypass certain trials, everything that had gone on up to that moment in our lives would be wiped out. It is because he loves us that at times he will not intercede as we may wish him to. That, too, we learn from Gethsemane and from Calvary.”[31]
He also taught:
“Petitioning in prayer has taught me that the vault of heaven, with all its blessings, is to be opened only by a combination lock: one tumbler falls when there is faith, a second when there is personal righteousness, and the third and final tumbler falls only when what is sought is (in God's judgment, not ours) "right" for us. Sometimes we pound on the vault door for something we want very much, in faith, in reasonable righteousness, and wonder why the door does not open. We would be very spoiled children if that vault door opened any more easily than it does now. I can tell, looking back, that God truly loves me by the petitions that, in his perfect wisdom and love, he has refused to grant me. Our rejected petitions tell us not only much about ourselves, but also much about our flawless Father.”[32]
May I, in closing share with you an example or two of what to me would appear as pleading petitions? A colleague and close friend once shared the following with me. His family had just moved into an unfinished home. During Christmas vacation he planned on finishing the basement. A friend had lent them a propane space heater, which he had heating the basement. He was at neighbors not far from the house cutting out stair treads, when he heard a very loud explosion, he thought was a sonic boom. His son who was close to the door started shouting that the house was on fire. He could hear his family screaming, as he ran to the house, once there after some anxious searching and desperate action he found that the family was safe. Older son’s were filling buckets with water and throwing it on the fire. He found a 20’ 3” inch diameter drain pipe; he would cover one end of the pipe with his hand, fill the pipe with water and then dump it on the flames. After several dumps of water from the pipe, his fifteen year old daughter said, “Dad, say a prayer”. He related, “I was foolishly focused on the water effort and said “Kim, you say the prayer, and I will dump the water”. She shouted at me and said, “Dad, say a prayer Right Now!” I paused and prayed, “Dear Father in Heaven, we are so thankful that no-one in the family was hurt by this explosion and fire PLEASE bless us that no one will do anything foolish and that we will be protected so that we may remain un hurt, In the name of Je…” Right then she interrupted my prayer. “DAD, BLESS THE HOUSE THAT THE FIRE WILL GO OUT!!!” I paused and said “And bless the house that the fire will go out! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” We filled the pipe and as I again reached the basement, to my absolute amazement, the fire was out!
Now there is more to the story, the clean up of hot spots, the Fire Departments absolute unbelief that they put the fire our with buckets and a pipe.
The essence of this message is caught in a young girls pleading with her father to faithfully cry unto the Lord.
Another example of Pleading Petitions:
Quinn's Story
On November 9, 2003, an event occurred in Texas that had an amazing impact on my life at that time and still does. I was teaching a few classes at the Livestock Center for the Animal Science Department when a friend and colleague, Brother Nick Baldwin approached me and asked if I had heard of the accident. I asked him, “what accident?” He said Quinn Jones, (son of Vern and Jean Jones, a young man I had known for several years,) had been in a very serious car accident. He said that it was touch and go; they didn’t know from one minute to the next if he was going to make it.
I hadn’t been around Quinn very much, but what I knew of him I really liked. He was a team roper who had an irrepressible smile. He was quick witted, smart and loved life. He loved to tease, but would be frank and bluntly honest if he needed to.
When Nick told me of the accident something happened inside of me, I immediately began to ache for Quinn’s parents. They had already lost a sweet daughter to cancer, and now this. I wasn’t sure how much more they could handle. I didn’t know what to do or how to be of help. I knew that they needed prayers, they needed the blessings of Heavenly Father, they needed the faith….they needed a miracle.
Let me tell you about the miracle….
The story begins with Elder Jones and his companion leaving a Missionary correlation meeting with a Stake President on November 9, 2003, in Abilene, Texas. They needed to drive to San Angelo. The weather had been very hot and dry and then it started to rain. They drove in the rain and were about twenty minutes out of town, traveling on a two-lane road. They were driving at speeds in excess of sixty-miles per hour as they approached, ironically enough, Dead Man’s Curve. The road suddenly became very slick, something like black ice. Their car started to hydroplane as they went into the turn and it began to slide sideways into the lane of the oncoming traffic. Both lanes of traffic were traveling in excess of sixty-miles per hour when the missionaries' car was broadsided on Elder Jones’ side.
It took rescue workers nearly an hour to get Quinn out of the car. The emergency response personnel did what was necessary to stabilize him for transportation by ambulance and then started for Abilene. Upon arrival at the hospital, there happened to be a doctor from Scott and White Hospital, Temple, Texas, picking up some extra hours in the emergency room. It just happened that Scott and White Hospital operated one of the finest Blunt Trauma Units in the United States at the time, and this particular Doctor was well prepared for what faced him. They did what they could for him there and prepared him to be transported by life-flight to Temple. (A doctor at the hospital in Abilene said that if Quinn had stayed the night there he never would have made it.) At Temple one of the attending Doctors was LDS and at the request of Quinn’s mother, Quinn was able to receive a Priesthood blessing at 5 a.m. on the 10 of November.
Quinn had sustained injuries to every major organ in his body, except his heart. He had a collapsed lung and the other was partially collapsed; he had a punctured kidney; they had to remove his spleen; his liver was lacerated; he had a crushed pelvis;, he had severed a major vessel in the pelvic area; and experienced severe nerve damage to the pelvic region and his legs. The first day at Scott and White Hospital they gave him 90 units of blood and blood products.
Quinn was in the Scott and White Hospital from November 9 to December 18, and in the ICU for all but one week of that time. For three weeks he lay with his intestines exposed so they could daily take him to surgery where they could care for him.
For two weeks he was so swollen he was unrecognizable. They kept him in a comatose state for a month. There was such a spirit surrounding him that the nurses would argue over who got to care for him; for three weeks there was a nurse at his bed constantly. His kidneys failed and he had to undergo dialysis, this raised the pressure on the brain to the point that some of the attending nurses felt that it was impossible to not have some type of brain damage as a result. At this time he was given one of many Fathers’ Blessings. After further testing and examinations, results came back negative for brain damage. He would receive a blessing nearly daily from his father and as often as the missionaries would come to the Hospital to visit.
Quinn was in Temple for six weeks and the church arranged for a medically equipped Leer Jet to fly to Texas and transport him to Salt Lake City, LDS Hospital.
The attending Doctor in Utah was a former Mission President, and at one period when it appeared that the abdomen was not healing properly and as expected he and others, at the request of the family, gave Quinn a blessing. In this blessing, words of encouragement were given and also that the Lord would guide those were assisting Quinn in his recovery.
Quinn was in Utah from 18 December 2003 to the end of February, 2004. During this time he had to have screws placed in his back, he had skin grafts, and was still suffering from head trauma. The head trauma left him experiencing severe mood swings, most of the times he was in an emotional flat zone, with never a smile, at other times almost violent.
He went from 180 pounds to 130 pounds.
Quinn would undergo regular therapy, physical, occupational, and speech. While he was in one of the physical therapy sessions that was extremely painful, he became upset and he snapped and started yelling at the therapist and then burst into tears. The therapist was stretching him; it hurt and Quinn yelled, “can’t you do harder?” So the therapist did. He finished his therapy and was in his room lying in bed, crying, when he said, “Mom what happened to me?” Quinn was back.
I had been thinking of Quinn quite a bit and decided to try to call his parents and find out how he was doing. I called and got the telephone number of Quinn’s room at the hospital, hoping I could reach his parents. I made a call to the hospital where I was able to speak with his mother; her voice became quite emotional as she said, “We got our son back today!” Quinn was a long way from where he eventually needed to be, but he was back.
Sometime later, I was sitting in sacrament meeting on the front row of our chapel when my wife sat down beside me, leaned over and said, “Quinn Jones is reporting his mission today.” I looked at her and said, "I am out of here." She gave me some directions to the chapel where the meeting was to be held. I got up and rapidly moved to the back of the chapel and out to the parking lot where I hurriedly got into my car and started for the outlying community several miles away, not really sure how to get to the chapel. I had a million thoughts running through my mind as the lights started flashing in my rear view mirror. The last thing I needed was to be pulled over. The officer said I was going fifty in a thirty-five; how could that be?
By the time I found the church, the meeting was nearly over. I heard Quinn’s unmistakable voice. He was at the pulpit in a wheel chair. He was bearing his testimony of missionary work, the truthfulness of the restored gospel and the reality of Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling. He testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Then as if to show his unquenchable faith in his loving Father in Heaven, his faith in the power of the atonement, in it’s capacity to make one whole, he grasped the pulpit, and in a struggling fashion pulled himself up, as if to say, “I am back, and I am not done!”
Brothers and Sisters, I am not sure why I was so drawn to Quinn’s family and his needs, but this experience had a tremendous impact on the way I prayed. I know that my prayers were only a few of the many united “Pleading Petitions” that were sent Heavenward during those long months.
I think the term “Crying unto the Lord” would be applicable.
Quinn is here today; Quinn would you please stand up? Thanks Quinn.
On one occasion I came home from school and I was met at the door by my wife, who held our infant son, he was lying limply in her arms. She looked pleadingly into my eyes and said, “you have got to give him a blessing.” He had been ill for a few days; we had followed the counsel and directions of the Doctors but things just were not improving and this day he had suddenly gotten worse. We felt helpless. We needed a higher power to intervene. In those moments our prayers became poignant, pleading petitions, they were not the almost casual prayers that I often seem to slip into. In this instance our will was his will the vault was opened the child responded, and his health was restored.
I am grateful for the Pleading Petition of the young boy Joseph Smith, in 1820, who after reading James 1:5-6, went forward, knowing that God, would give liberally, if he asked in faith, with nothing wavering. I am grateful for the fact that the Heavens are once again opened and the Priesthood is again upon the earth, that we once again have living Prophets, Seers and Revelators to inspire us and guide us. I testify of this reality, that Gordon B. Hinckley, is a prophet.
I testify of the power and efficacy of Heartfelt, prayerful petitions, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Notes
[1] Discourses of Brigham Young, p 41
[2] President George Albert Smith, CR, October 1946, 147-53
[3] The Bible dictionary pages 752 and 753
[4] Matthew 6:5-8
[5] Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “Our Relationship with the Lord”, Devotional Address, Brigham Young University, 2 March 1982
[6] Matthew 7:7-8
[7] Maxwell, Elder Neal A. All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 96
[8]Ensign, May 1976, p. 26
[9] All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 91
[10] All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 95
[11] Matthew 6:9
[12] Matthew 6:9–13
[13] “The Language of Prayer,” Ensign, May 1993, 15
[14] 6 April 1855, JD 2:248-58
[15] Discourses of Brigham Young, 45
[16] Discourses of Brigham Young , 42
[17] Discourses of Brigham Young , 45
[18] 2 Nephi 32:8-9
[19] Discourses of Brigham Young , 44
[20] Discourses of Brigham Young , 43
[21] “But for a Small Moment," p. 445
[22] "Insights from My Life," p. 200