He Hears Us

one of my favorite songs is "He Hears Me" by Hilary Weeks, David Osmond did a cover of it on his CD, Road Less Traveled - I love his version of it!!!

This was all pouring in my head while I was driving home from work on the morning of 12/13/11 as a message from the Holy Ghost

He hears me, hears us. All the time. Not only in prayer, but also in our actions and in our thoughts. This was reaffirmed to me in the last relief society meeting about the Final Judgement. We need to be careful about what is floating around in our minds. He hears everything. He sometimes answers our thoughts as if we had prayed.

People will say "the power of the mind", "power of thought", "you can make things happen just by thinking about it a lot" then when it happens, they often think they did it themselves. It was Him answering those thoughts.

Something that I was given from the Spirit I found interesting:

"He hears and sees everything for everyone. Something to keep in mind with your thoughts: If He came down today and was standing speaking with you, would you say those thoughts to Him directly? If yes, then go ahead.  If no, then you shouldn't be thinking them. Although you may not think of your thoughts as direct communication, they are. Just as prayer is, but prayer is more powerful than thoughts."

Then I got to thinking, that is how silent prayers work.. you think them, address Him directly and He hears you. Although with normal thoughts, you aren't addressing Him directly, He can still hear you. It makes sense why pure thoughts are important.

"But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not" - Mosiah 4:30

"A person's thoughts may also be a prayer if they are directed to God" - Prayer, The Guide to the Scriptures, Study Helps

When I was working at Qwest/Centurylink, I would get tired of being at work. I kept thinking, if I only had the time, all the great things I would do. There were drawings and various other projects that I started that I wanted to do. If only I had the time. That was answered when I was in between jobs. I was off for two weeks. In that entire two weeks, all I did was complain about being home and how I wanted to be working. I didn't touch any of the projects that I originally wanted so bad to do. It hit me weeks later that my thoughts had been answered. I was given what I wanted, but I didn't see it. Now I wish that I had taken advantage of the time I was given. Now a few of the projects I had wanted to do, its too late. Two of the people left and one had passed on. I'm trying harder to be more appreciative and see things more externally that so internally.

On November 12th, I was working security for a apartment complex. All I was really focused on is that I was hungry. In the tenant lounge next to the desk, there was a birthday party. I remember thinking that I wish I was a part of it to have some of the food. That became all I was thinking about. How cool it would be if they offered something to me. I figured it would never happen and knew that it was a kind of selfish thought. I was careful not to look in their direction. At the end of the party, guests disbursed and it was just the people running it. They offered me some of the food. I was surprised because even though it was what I wanted, I never actually thought it would happen. I immediately said, no thank you. I was worried about a field supervisor showing up and catching me eating. I would have been in trouble. They asked again, I declined a second time. I heard the Spirit say to me, "Please don't ask for things you don't actually want". I felt stupid. After hearing that, I realized that our Heavenly Father was trying to grant me my requests for food and then I shot it down.

On December 3rd, I was called into work 10pm - 10am. I was at school until 6:30pm, went to a baptism 7-8, fed the missionaries 8-9, then left for work. On my way to work, I was regretting accepting the shift. I didn't want to be there. I wanted to be at home asleep. I was tired through and through. I had only accepted the shift for the money. I had been praying for extra work so I can have money to pay my bills. I figured the call for the shift was an answer to prayer and I wasn't going to turn it down. I was still worried about working the full 12 hours. I was worried that I would be too tired to drive home. Plus if I left at 10am Sunday morning, that would mean I would be late for Church. All of it was causing me great concern. Since I was driving, I wouldn't be able to pray for help. When I got to work, one of my bosses was there waiting for me. He told me the shift was shortened from 10-10 to 10-4. I was confused and asked him why. He said he didn't know. The shift is standard 10-10, they had no reason to shorten it. He said they just suddenly decided to split the shift without a reason. They just did. After he left, I sent up a prayer of thanks. I was so grateful. I could handle 6 hours.

On December 10th, I was called into work midnight - 8am. As the evening went on, I realized that I would be too tired to drive. I couldn't call out. They were depending on me. My friend Mike wasn't home. I was thinking that it'd be great if he would be willing to drive me back and forth. On the other hand, he hates driving to Seattle. I figured he wouldn't do it, but that it'd been really great if he did. After some pondering this, I finally decided to just text him and ask. I figured he'd say no, but that there's no harm in asking. A couple minutes later, he texted me back agreeing to help me out. I prayed and thanked our Heavenly Father for Mike helping me.

On December 11th, I was having a lot of difficulties with my shift. I was scheduled to come back and work midnight - 6am, Monday morning. I really didn't want to come back. I wanted to just stay home after Church. I thought that if Mike was willing to drive me back and forth again that I'd be able to do it. I was glad when 8am came around and it was time to go home. When Mike picked me up, he was boiling mad. Traffic was all messed up. The bulk of Seattle was being shut down for the Jingle Bell run. He told me, never again. That he hated Downtown Seattle and he is not driving down there again. I felt bad, I was apologetic to the situation. I felt it best not to argue with him about it. I was thinking, what am I going to do? I could come down to Seattle by myself and fight for parking, but I really didn't want to. I was worried and bummed. Then at 10am, I was about to leave for Church when the scheduling supervisor asked me if I could take a different shift. Instead of working the site in Seattle, they needed me to do the day shift in addition to my normal night shift at Swedish Sleep Center in Issaquah. I immediately accepted. It meant I didn't have to go to Seattle and I got to work at my normal site. I wouldn't have to worry about parking. I would be working an extra 8hrs instead of an extra 6 and I got to be home Sunday night. After the call was finished, I sent up a prayer of thanks for helping me out.

On December 12th, I was sitting at work thinking that it would be cool to work the day and night shift more often. A few minutes later, I received a call from the scheduling supervisor asking me to work the day and night shift a second day. I accepted and sent up a prayer of thanks.

I'm so thankful to know that our Heavenly Father hears us. Sometimes it doesn't occur to me to pray about something, but i'll be thinking about stuff. That He'll answer thoughts as well is comforting to me. More proof that he loves us.

"Now Zeezrom, seeing that thou has been taken in thy lying and craftiness, for thou hast not lied unto men only but thou hast lied unto God; for behold, he knows all thy thoughts, and thou seest that thy thoughts are made known unto us by his Spirit" Alma 12:3