Ann N. Madsen wrote:
During the years when our children were growing up, I performed a small ritual as I lay in bed after family prayer. I would put the name of each child before the Lord, so that I could analyze the unique challenges he or she faced. Then I would ask the Lord’s help in being an instrument to nurture and guide. It was such a tender task. I looked forward to it and to the mornings that followed when many of my queries were answered quietly during that clean slate-time of just-after-wakening.
One of my great concerns during those late-night reveries was how to teach our children to really pray—to open conduits to their Heavenly Father. I remember thinking that this would be the best insurance we could leave them if anything should happen to us before they were grown. And so I prayed that they would learn that God hears and answers prayers.
About this time, during a severe drought, when the Wasatch Mountains had never greened through the spring and summer, President Spencer W. Kimball asked us as Church to fast for rain on an appointed day. Our family did. During family home evening we heard the rain begin to fall on the metal roof of our patio. It was an electric moment. At first just a few drops, but soon it was a torrent. We all ran outside, and one of our children said, “Let’s kneel down here with the rain falling on us to thank the Lord.” Then we all put around small bottles to catch the water. I kept mine since that day; it’s full of “holy” water. Our children learned part of the lesson that then; God indeed hears and answers prayers. Their dripping faces and soaking clothes and water bottles clutched in their damp hands were tangible proof. ~Ann N. Madsen, From the book ‘A Year of Powerful Prayer’ (Deseret Book Company, 2013), 187-88
