The Power of Prayer and Why We Need Yours

Disclaimer: This is not an all-encompassing piece about the power of prayer in my WHOLE life. This is just the tip of the iceberg of what I believe about prayer and a request out into the world wide web for some prayers on our behalf.

I have struggled so many times to post on any of my blogs about the struggle we are in right now, but I think I'll finally have the courage to post this one. You see, we are a young, married, Mormon couple living in Provo, Utah and struggling with infertility.

I haven't felt like I had the right to blog about it because we haven't been going through it nearly as long as some people we know, and we haven't spent nearly the money that they have. We haven't even been told that it's nearly impossible for us to conceive (at least not yet). So many people have had it so much worse than we do! But, the more I have talked about it and thought about it and gone through it--the more I realize that the incredibly heavy empty arms of couples who go through this weigh the same amount for all of us. We're all in this club that no one wants to join and it's not a competition (though some people make it that). It doesn't matter if you've gone through it for one year or for twenty years--we all have a unique opportunity to be empathetic for one another.

So what this incredibly long introduction is trying to say is that I'm deciding to get over my fear of some woman who has suffered way longer than I have ripping me to pieces for being sad and tired from my relatively short quest for a child. And now.... on to prayer.

I hate to admit that I have not been using prayer (and thus the atonement of Jesus Christ) to its full extent these last two years. I somehow let the idea get into my head that I was bothering God with all my tearful pleas for a good ultrasound, for some good blood tests, for a medication to work, for a child. I knew all along, of course, that these feelings were wrong, but it was hard for me to stop thinking them. I keep renewing my efforts to pray sincerely and often though, because I know that God hears and answers prayers.

He may not answer the way that I want or when I want, but my All-Knowing and Ever-Loving Father in Heaven has always answered them. So, even now, when I want something so good and wonderful--a child to love and teach and care for--I know God has His reasons for not sending us one yet.

Here is another small example of other prayers related to our infertility issues that God has answered almost immediately. We recently switched doctors (we LOVE our new one). Right before our first appointment with him, I could not find the spread sheets or the calendar where I had been keeping track of everything for 18 months! How could I get the doctor to take me seriously if I couldn't even show him the statistics I had diligently recorded?! I started to panic. I only had a back-up calendar for the last four months. How could I expect to be a mother if I couldn't even find a spreadsheet!?!(I was obviously losing it!) I tore apart our house, cried to the point of dehydration, and prayed harder than I have in a long time. I needed to find those numbers!

I woke up puffy-eyed the next morning and when Garrett picked me up from work at lunch time for our appointment, I still didn't have anything to show the new doctor. We checked in at the front desk and we sat down. Something told me to look into my wallet. Why would I look in there? (It was the Spirit telling me.. and if you want to know more about that ask me, but I won't explain here) I looked into my wallet and in the very back I found a folded up piece of paper that had been put in there MONTHS ago! I unfolded it. It was my spreadsheet! I had almost 16 months worth of data now... just moments before we went back to the doctor. Heavenly Father loves us and He answers our prayers.


I know it doesn't always work that way or that quickly, but I know that the answers DO come. This was just one of my favorite examples in my recent life. In the Bible we read, "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." (Matt. 7:7-8). In the Book of Mormon we read, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." (3 Nephi 18:20).


I believe those words with all my heart. I have a testimony of the power of prayer. I know that when we pray for ourselves or for others, with faith, God blesses us and them. Garrett and I are about to try something new with the doctor. It's not the most expensive thing, but for a couple with the husband still living the student life and more school ahead, it's a lot of money. The money isn't even the important part, it's the seeds of hope planted in this whole process that Garrett and I have sown for two years. This is something we want to work so badly. I know there are others out there who understand how we feel. I know that even if you haven't been touched by infertility, the odds are that someone close to you has. I am asking for your prayers for our family right now. Please pray with us that, if it is the Lord's will, this will work out for us and if it is not His will, that we will have the strength, faith, and patience to wait a little longer. I know that either way your prayers will help us. Those of you who know me well know that it's hard for me to ask for help, but we really could use all the help we can get right now to be blessed either with a child or with more patience.


Tennyson once wrote, "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." I know that is true, which is why I know that the miracle of parenthood can happen for Garrett and I (in one way or another) by the power of prayer.