The Silent Prayers Around Us

During these cool winter days, you’ll often find me nestled up in front of the fireplace.

It’s my new favorite place to be.

One of my boys captured this picture of me sitting in that very spot, reading the January 2011 Ensign.

The article invited readers to share which Ensign articles had touched their lives, and naturally, it got me thinking...

What would I consider my favorite?

I sat quietly for a moment, thinking back over the many things I’ve read through the years.

And then I remembered one.

I had read it exactly one year earlier—“How Can I Develop and Increase in Compassion?” from the December 2009 Ensign.

There were words from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that deeply touched me. He taught about noticing the heavy hearts and loneliness around us and allowing ourselves to become instruments in the Lord’s hands to answer the prayers of others.

Those words spoke directly to my heart.

When I finished studying that day, I found a quiet place and knelt in prayer.

I asked Heavenly Father to help me recognize someone who might need something.

Anyone.

Later that very day, an answer came through a quiet prompting.

The name that entered my mind was one of my son’s junior high teachers.

There was only one problem...

I knew absolutely nothing about this man.

Nothing about his family.

Nothing about his circumstances.

Nothing that would explain why his name had come to me.

I called B.T.C. and told him what I had experienced.

He didn't hesitate.

He was in.

With Christmas quickly approaching, we felt prompted to do something anonymously for this teacher and his family. We prepared a gift and had it delivered to the school with nothing more than a small white label bearing his name.

That was it.

No explanation.

No recognition.

Just his name.

Only afterward did we learn something we hadn't known when the prompting came.

His vehicle had recently broken down.

And he had lost his home.

I still get emotional thinking about it.

There is no doubt in my mind that Someone above knew exactly what this family was experiencing, even when we didn't.

We weren't extraordinary.

We didn't somehow figure out that someone needed help.

We simply asked...

And then listened.

It became one of the most meaningful experiences B.T.C. and I have shared together.

I KNOW that when we have the desire, the Lord can use ordinary people to answer the silent prayers of those around us.

And to think...

I may never have even thought to ask that particular prayer had I not curled up and read that article.

Maybe that’s what makes it my favorite.

It didn't just give me something beautiful to read.

It prompted me to do something.

And for that, I’m grateful.