Prayers Answered

I was asked to speak in Church the Sunday after Thanksgiving based on a talk given by Elder David A. Bednar in General Conference this past October.

Ironically, or maybe providently, I had already re-read this talk several times. There were themes in his talk that I picked up throughout the entire Conference - the need to not just know things, but to act on our knowledge. The need to decrease that gap between our knowledge and our actions. He said that there are things we know, but they are not necessarily reflected in what we do. It has been my experience that things that are simple are not always easy.

I learned so much as I studied in preparation for this talk. I spent a fair amount of time praying that I would be able to touch someone else's heart - that this was not just going to be a good experience for me, but that I could reflect the truths I had learned. I often pray prayers like that, and rarely do I ever find out if they have been answered or not.

Well, there was no question this time. One of my roommates good friends told me he thought my talk had been good. I didn't think twice about that till I was at our Institute of Religion class on Tuesday. There was a stray set of scriptures so I picked them up to figure out who they belonged to. As I was flipping through the papers in the back looking for a name, I saw my own name. This person had written down notes from what I said in my talk. I was floored.

Then, I hear "Nicole, can I have my scriptures back?" It was my roommates friend. He had been serious - he had enjoyed my talk. He saw what I was looking at and said, "See, you never know who you are going to influence for good."

I was humbled by this answer to my prayer - both that the prayer was answered so clearly and that I was able to find out about it. I love things like this that testify to me how much God loves all His children. I love that we have chances to answer others prayers and to have our prayers answered by the people around us.