The frequency of our appeals

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Sunday Afternoon Session of the October 2001 Conference. 

I think I pray, in general, a lot more than I used to. I suppose it's partly because I just need strength so much more often—and partly because my idea of what a prayer is and how to do it has expanded greatly over the years. I snatch prayers in practically every available little moment, and I seek those moments—in the car, while hanging out clothes, while waiting for a meeting to start. I've become really good at finding those "creative" prayer times because the "usual" prayer times (when I get out of and get into bed!) are often busy or hurried or half-asleep. My actual on-my-knees prayers are often my worst ones!

I thought about this as I read Elder L. Tom Perry's counsel: 

Throughout my mission, I prayed with my companion each morning as we began a new day. The process was repeated each night before we retired. We offered a prayer before we studied, a prayer as we left our apartment to go out tracting, and, of course, special prayers when special guidance was needed to direct our missionary work. The frequency of our appeals to our Father in Heaven gave us strength and courage to press forward in the work to which we had been called. Answers would come, sometimes in astonishingly direct and positive ways. The guidance of the Holy Spirit seemed to be magnified the more times we appealed to the Lord for direction on a given day.

As I look back on my life following my mission, I realize that there were periods when I was able to maintain the same closeness to the Lord that I experienced in the mission field. There were also periods when the world seemed to creep in and I was less consistent and faithful with my prayers.

Wouldn’t this be a good time for a little self-evaluation to determine if we still have the same relationship with our Father in Heaven that we enjoyed in the mission field? If the world has diverted us from the practice of prayer, we then have lost a great spiritual power. Maybe it is time that we rekindle our missionary spirit through more frequent, consistent, and mighty prayer.

I can certainly work on the "consistent and mighty prayer" part, but it did comfort me to hear him talk about how even the simple frequency of prayer was a tool to unlock strength and courage. I have found it to be true that even a short, snatched prayer on the ten minute-drive between the high school and home can change my focus and bring me peace to go on. And a prayer in the shower or on a walk around the block to track down Ziggy (haha), while it doesn't seem powerful the way a prayer in the temple does—is at least good at reminding me who I am and what my purpose is. So it's reassuring to hear that enough of these little squeezed-in, interrupted prayers really can—together—significantly magnify the Holy Spirit and its power to improve my life!