Thank God for Redirected Prayers

I had the coolest experience today. I was thinking about this house we are planning to build. It’s really been a strain. We’ve gone back-and-forth, over and over about if we should do it or not.

Today, which is Sunday, I thought, “Well, let me really go pray about this.” I went to my bedside and knelt down. (My husband was not home.) I then began to pray about the house and I did so for maybe 3 or 4 minutes, when my son’s name came to mind. Suddenly I was filled with a great desire to pray for him. I began to ask the Lord what I could do to help him. I know he has struggled lately. He doesn’t love to talk to me about his issues, and so I’ve been trying to honor that.

In the course of the next 5 minutes, I asked the Lord what I could recommend. And it occurred to me that I could encourage him to go to some Institute classes. He’s not taking classes at College this semester so he won’t have a religion class. Institute might pump him up and add to his righteous friends list.

So I interrupted my prayer, apologizing, and immediately called my son. It was about 10:20 at night. He was driving home from having visited with a cousin. I had seen him earlier in the day and he was cheerful and spunky. But when I talked to him on the phone, he became more serious and said that he had really been struggling these last few weeks. While his car was down, he had been isolated and stuck at home. He was getting into a dark head space. Very self-critical.

I was so thankful that I had had the impression to call him, which was not what I set out to do. Thankfully, the Lord redirected my energy and I was able to tell him that I loved him and that I have a lot of hope for him. I also gave him an opportunity to vent some of his feelings. It was a great conversation and a great blessing. I’m happy and thankful!