A quote from Carolyn J. Rasmus from the book ‘A Year of Powerful Prayer’
The scriptures give us ample instruction on how the Spirit speaks to us, but to hear the still small voice we must be still and listen. This was forcefully brought to my mind early one morning as I finished my prayers. I admit to being guilty of jumping to my feet as I conclude a prayer with “amen.” But on this particular morning I simply stayed on my knees and listened.
I had been praying, as I always did, for my father. He had suffered for many years from the effects of Parkinson’s disease. As the disease progressed, he gradually lost his ability to speak, to eat, and to control bodily functions. In his prime, Dad had been a superintendent of schools, president of a variety of civic organizations, and a leader in his community and in his church. To see him unable to do anything was almost more than he could bear. For years I included him in every prayer I offered, “Please, don’t let Dad suffer.”
That morning when I stayed on my knees and listened, I gained an enormous insight—an eternal perspective. As if the Lord himself stood beside me, words came clearly into my mind: “My Son suffered.”
I recorded in my journal: “It almost took my breath away. I felt as if I had been ‘taught from on high.’ I began to pray that both Dad and I would be able to endure to the end.” . . .
Just as I needed personal revelation to understand my father’s suffering, so we all need personal revelation for our own lives.
President Boyd K. Packer told graduating students at Brigham Young University—Hawaii: “These are sobering times. . . . you won’t survive spiritually, unless you know how to receive revelation.” He, too, acknowledged that we live in a “noisy world” but added, “revelation comes in the quiet times. It will come when the Lord can speak to your feelings. . . . Go quietly, he counseled. Go quietly into the world. Go quietly about your affairs, and learn that in the still small hours of the morning the Lord will speak to you. He will never fail to answer your prayers.” (Packer, BYU—Hawaii Commencement Address, December 17, 2005.) ~Carolyn J. Rasmus , A Year of Powerful Prayer, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2013) Day 187 / pg 206.
