SO, i've had a lot of journals. i mean, A LOT. i've kept a journal since i was 12 years old. every year i would go and buy a marble notebook, put a picture on the front that i thought would represent that year, and write away. i'd paste pictures, notes ect. into it. they were my life line. they were my therapy. they in a way helped me feel closer to my heavenly father since i was in constant awareness of my feelings and thoughts.
then i got married. and i stopped writing. i'm not sure why really. maybe it was because i was happy and didn't need to write about how depressed i was. maybe it was because i finally had someone i could talk to. either way, i stopped. and i lost myself in a way. i lost the pondering on my life and the prayerful thoughts i regularly acquired. so this blog has sort of become a journal for me in a way. i can write about events in my life, and i can write far to much about my children. but i've enjoyed writing again.
after listening to conference, i had a memory that i hadn't thought about in quite sometime. i went looking through my old journals to see if i had written it down because it was the most amazing experience i had while in high school. but, i hadn't written it down. i couldn't believe it. how could i not have? i have been thinking about it for the last week and wondering if i should post about it or not. it's something so personal and sacred to me that i didn't know if i would diminish this wonderful memory by posting it. then i thought that since i'm using this as a journal of sorts, i need to write it down. i would want my children and grandchildren to know of this experience. i would want my family to know that i have a testimony of prayer. and i would hope that it could strengthen someone else's testimony of prayer.
before my brother left to go on his mission, he gave me a ctr ring. i loved this ring and i wore it every day. one night when i was 15, i was out with some people from my seminary class. we had just got done from practicing scripture chase and we decided to go to a park near by and hang out. this type of park had sand as a buffer and we went swinging, playing on a merry-go-round and chatting. as we were about to leave, i realized that my ctr ring had fallen off and was lost in the sand. my heart was broken and as much as i tried, i just couldn't help but start to cry in front of my friends. we searched all the places i had been and dug in the sand to try and find it. after about a hour of looking in the dark, we decided to leave. i just couldn't. i needed to find this ring. then a friend of mine suggested that we kneel and say a prayer. we all knelt in a circle and he offered up the sweetest prayer to help me find my ring. as soon as he said amen, he looked down and picked up my ctr ring and asked if that was it. as simple as that. we spent over an hour looking in that same spot i had dug, but in one short simple prayer it was found in a second. none of us could say anything. we just looked at each other. we must have sat like that for 15 minutes before we got up and went home. i know that this story is simple. to some it might be trivial. but to me, this was an amazing gift my heavenly father gave to me. i know that it was just material, this ring of mine. i would have gotten over the loss of it. yet with a simple faithful prayer, my heavenly father blessed me with my ring once again. i have always had a testimony of prayer, but this strengthened it ten fold. i love this memory. i can't believe that i don't think of it more often. it's been years since i have and i don't know why i suddenly have thought of it or why it's been on my mind. i'm writing down now. i want this memory to be preserved for me and my family for i want them to know that prayer works. He is there to always listen to us, and he will talk to us... if we listen.
