Most Children BELIEVE!

I have always been taught that we need to be more like little children, in thought, deeds, beliefs, honesty and actions. I think it is because they are so innocent, plus pure and haven’t been filled with prejudices and selfish ideas yet. When I listen to my granddaughters pray, I am always amazed at the simplicity and yet straightforwardness of their prayers. They pray from everything from …thankful for the strawberries, leaves on the trees, Daddy to be safe at work, to help my sister not be mean to me any more… and share her dinosaurs with me, and on and on.
Yes, they pray from their heart, they believe from their heart, it is refreshing to listen to them. 
When I read this story, I thought how sweet and true it is …that children do have great faith!  It made me take a look at my own heart and how much faith I really have.
Hope you enjoy it. Good night dear friends!    
 
 
A little child’s prayer!

(This is a story written by a doctor who worked in Africa.)
One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter.

We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator and we had no electricity to run an incubator. We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in.

Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates). ' And it is our last hot water bottle!' she exclaimed. As in

the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
'All right,' I said, 'put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.'

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby.

I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During prayer time, one ten-year-old
girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children.

'Please, God' she prayed, 'Send us a hot water bottle today It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon..'
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, ' And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?'
As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say ' A men?' I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there?
The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the veranda was a large 22 pound parcel.

I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly Excitement was mounting.
Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked
a little bored.
Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the......could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle.
I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, 'If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!'

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, 'Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really
loves her?' 'Of course,' I replied!

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.
And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child – five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it 'that afternoon.'
'Before they call, I will answer.' (Isaiah 65:24)

   '” Little Johnny was softly saying his night prayers kneeling down, and his mother was beside him. "Say your prayers louder, darling, I can't hear you," Said Little Johnny's mother. "But I'm not talking to you" was the instant reply. “

   “ A little boy's prayer: "Dear God, please take care of my daddy and my mommy and my sister and my brother and my doggy and me. Oh, please take care of yourself, God. If anything happens to you, we're gonna be in a big mess."

   “ A five-year-old said grace at family dinner one night. "Dear God, thank you  for these pancakes." When he concluded, his parents asked him why he thanked God for pancakes when they were having chicken. He smiled and said, "I thought I'd see if He was paying attention tonight."

Importance of WATER!

I read an article the other day that really made me realize the importance of water, one of the simple pleasures in life that I take for granted too often. The article was great and made me think of our dependence on water and especially clean water. I also love the reminder of our dependence on the Savior.  Hope you enjoy it! Good night!

"My employment takes me to communities all over the world where people do not have access to clean water. Our group works with local governments and residents to provide maintainable sources of pure, life-sustaining water such as wells and spring or rain captures.
These water projects offer a significant improvement in the quality of life. Health drastically improves because of clean water stops the contraction of typhoid, cholera, and other water-borne diseases. The economy also improves because parents and children who previously spent their time carrying water can now pursue employment and education. Even in communities with numerous and wide-ranging problems, people always say that clean water is what they would like most.
The Savior spent His earthly ministry in a time and place where people relied on well for water. As He taught the woman at the well by saying that "whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" ( John 4:14) was He also teaching us that His gospel quenches--permanently--our most basic needs? I believe so."
I will always be grateful to a woman in Kenya, Africa, who taught me about the willingness to work to obtain water. I met her at a celebration following the installation of a well in her community. With gratitude she told me that the new well would cut her daily nine-mile trip to get water to a one -mile trip. She was overjoyed at the opportunity that would now be hers."
I couldn't help but think  how I would feel if I had to walk a mile to get water. I was impressed that she put everything--from  housework to gardening--aside while she made her journey to fetch water. She knew she couldn't complete the other tasks without that water. I thought about how heavy her burden was. Carrying water takes strength and endurance. Yet, for the sake of her family, she was willing to walk nine-miles every day to get it.
I wonder if we who get clean water from taps in our homes sometimes expect to come unto Christ with the same ease as turning a knob to get a glass of water. Or are we willing to put aside other tasks, even important ones, to seek to know Jesus Christ and His Father?
I know that the well of living water the Savior offers us never runs dry and is pure and life sustaining. When we come to Him with an empty cup, He will fill it, often beyond our capacity to receive. He is truly living water, a manifestation of the love of God.  ~ Matthew Heaps http://lds.org/ensign/2011/07/drink-deeply-of-the-living-water?lang=eng

 

"We turn with hope...to Him who walked the dusty paths of villages we now reverently call the Holy Land, to Him who caused the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the dead to live. To Him who tenderly and lovingly assured us, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life'(John 14:6)."  --The New Era, April 1991

"Even though the tasks of life become heavy, and although sorrow thrusts a drooping burden upon us, the light that emanates from our Savior beckons us on, undismayed."  ~Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin