My Prayer
by
Lydia Wardell

O Heavenly Father, hear my prayers.
Have mercy on me - forgive my sins,
Accept my broken heart, my contrite spirit.   
Know of my repentance -
My resolve to live anew
And walk in the footsteps
Of thy Beloved Son.

Renew and sanctify each day
My perception of life and the world,
That I may walk uprightly before thee,
Always singing and exulting,
Inwardly and outwardly,
In the wonders of thy creations
Including my own.

I thank you, Heavenly Father,
For my existence and for blessings
You have benevolently and generously
Bestowed on me, for hearing my prayers.
Please, Father, continue to bless me
With all I know not how to ask, but which
Thou seest I am in need.

© Copyright Lydia Wardell 1999

(Prayer is a very personal and poignant event touching my soul in a profound way that is hard to put into words.   I fell in love with the scripture 2Nephi 32:8-9.

(8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray^•; for the evil^• spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray^• always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray^• unto the Father in the name^• of Christ, that he will consecrate^• thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare^• of thy soul.)I searched my scripture database for all references to 'pray.' 

There are so many beautiful passages on prayer in many forms. When one becomes moved with a spirit of prayer it is hard not to wax poetic.   Poetry is condensed emotion and  is so akin to prayer it is hard to separate the two.  LW)

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