The Overwhelming Power of Prayer

My parents were telling me about these monks in Greece who pray together for eight hours straight, then even as they go about their daily routines, they are in continual prayer.  Eight hours!! I can't imagine what I would pray about for that long.  But everyday, I notice that my prayers get a little longer.  I guess it's all about practice, practice, practice.  A couple of months ago, I started to pray before work every morning.  I didn't wake up earlier, but I would still spend 5-10 minutes in prayer before getting ready for the day.  If you know me at all, you know that it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE for me to wake up in the morning.  I sleep until the very last minute possible, so that between that time and when I have to leave for work, I have to use every moment to get ready. On the mornings I pray,  even though I don't wake up any earlier, I still have enough time to get ready and out the door in time for work.  This morning, I forgot to pray and was ten minutes late to work.

Prayer is such an amazing gift.  Our Heavenly Father wants to hear from us, each and every day.  He desires the praises and thanks He deserves.  He is willing to answer questions and give blessings.  It may not be when or how we expected, but He is willing.  Last Friday, I drove to the Denver Temple because I needed a peaceful place to pray.  I had been feeling a bit lost, scared about big changes, etc.  I spent an hour and a half there pondering a certain question, and started feeling frustrated, because I didn't feel like I was getting an answer.  I finally left, even though I hadn't received any peace about that certain question.  As I was driving home, I was listening to a talk that had been given to me a long time ago.  And in it, a situation much like my own was presented, and the speaker explained how he had felt about it, and how later it was revealed to him to be a blessing.  I knew that his answer was also my answer, and that God had led me to decide to put in that cd, because He wanted to use it to answer my question and to teach me a lesson.

We have the perfect example of Jesus Christ to know how to live in this life.  How many times during Christ's life on earth did he pray?  There are numerous examples of it in the Bible.   How important it is then to pray!