Prayer and Moral Discipline

I'm a week behind on the blog, so I will start with last week's lesson first and then do this week's lesson.
Last week Sis. Joyce Bond taught us about prayer. I was really excited for this lesson as I've had a few spiritual struggles in the past few weeks and I have to say that I was not disappointed in the Spirit that Sis. Bond brought with her and had in her lesson. The manual breaks it up into 5 sections. What is prayer? Why do we pray? When should we pray? How should we pray? and finally, How are our prayers answered?
She took us through each section and had a few select people share experiences they've had with prayer. Many sisters also shared their testimonies about prayer. Sis. Margie Lindsay shared this passage from the Bible Dictionary under Prayer: "The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them." I loved that!! I also love what it continues to say after that, "Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." We talked a little bit about how the Lord has many things he wants for us, we just have to ask Him for them and ask in righteousness and not selfishness. We also discussed how prayers are answered and not always in the way or means we had in mind. I have many stories about that and I'm sure you all do as well. I know that this is a short summary of the lesson, but it encouraged me to make my prayers more meaningful and reminded me that this is how we "keep in touch" with the Lord and also how we can come to know him. I was reading a book called the "Infinite Atonement" by Tad R. Callister. He speaks of prayer and how powerful it can be when we "ask" to know things. He gives the example of Joseph Smith. Not only did he "ask" about what church to join, which led to the restoration of the church, but he also asked about baptism, the Word of Wisdom, celestial marriage, the three degrees of glory, and in truth, almost every other notable revelation in this dispensation. Tad referred to Joseph Smith as the "master asker" and said that he was empirical proof of the divine invitation , "if thous shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things." He goes on to explain that through prayer Nephi was able to see his father Lehi's vision. Joseph F. Smith received inspiration about the spirits beyond the veil and Spencer W. Kimball went to the Lord in prayer about the priesthood being extended to all worthy males. I read this after Sis. Bond's lesson and it opened my eyes to how powerful prayer really and truly is! Sometimes I think that these types of answers will only be given to the prophets, but just think of the answers we can receive when we go to the Lord and just "ask!"
Thank you Sis. Bond for your wonderful lesson!
Sis. Julie Schiess gave our lesson today on Moral Discipline. This was a deep topic and she did a fantastic job of helping us to understand it. I had to leave in the middle of it so this summary will be a little choppy. She started out by defining what "Morals" means. Examples given were honesty, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and doing good to all men...basically what the 13th article of faith describes. She broke it down even further by discussing what each of those meant. Shortly after this I had to leave. When I came back she was talking about how we as parents teach our children morals. Several of the sisters gave their wonderful ideas on how they have taught their children what these morals are and how to stand up for what is right, even if you have to blame your mom for it! I loved all of the ideas because I am a young mother who is just starting to have those issues of my children coming home from school and telling me about "so and so does this" and " so and so's mom let's them do this." I just tell my children that those kids get to do that because they have a nice mom and you have a mean mom. I know one day they'll realize just how nice I really am! One idea was to take your girls to a hotel room one night, when they are getting to that "delicate" age and teach them about certain things. Discuss the temple with them and maybe show them how to properly wear their make-up. It's also a great time to let them ask questions and get their feelings out there as well. Another sister shared how she laid down the rules for her children and then realized that they might be scared to tell their friends they aren't going to do something because it's not right. So she told them that they could blame it on her and they could say, "I can't because of my mom. She won't let me," or however they wanted to blame her. That was a great idea I thought because it's hard for children to stand up against their friends and this gave them a great way to still be "cool" but not get ridiculed for being "good."
Thanks Sis. Schiess for your wonderful lesson. I always learn so much more about simple gospel principles from your lessons.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and we'll see you next week!
** Don't forget that tonight is the Temple Fireside that the Stake Relief Society Presidency is doing at the Stake Center-5pm. I sadly have to miss it because of a family thing that I am the "guest of honor" at. Trust me, I would rather be going to this!