The Prayer of an Island Friend

submitted by Shaelie 9/23/08 at 9:51 PM

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no Other recourse but to pray to God.

However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the
first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he
was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained
barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a
Wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the
second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife
could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at
his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his
wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He
considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from
Heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?"

"My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for
them," the first man answered. "His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything."

"You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings."

"Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that
I should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

A Simple Question

Lauren sat in the back of the gyms bleachers near some classmates. They laughed and giggled throughout the school assembly and she felt completely alone and ignored. Seeing some students from her early morning seminary class, she moved a few benches over and happily sat by them. They quickly said hi and went back to there previous conversations, leaving her out. Lauren quietly moved down to an area no one else was sitting within 10 feet and leaned against the wall. She was used to this. Although she had grown up in her small ward, none of the kids ever reached out to her and she was left out of all the ‘clicks. She hadn’t had friends in school since three years before when they started making poor choices and she decided to try and find new friends, but was unwelcome in every group she tried. Her family was going through some extremely hard times and she was feeling unwelcome and unloved everywhere she went.

As she leaned against the wall, she offered up a familiar prayer to her Heavenly Father. “Why am I still here? I know you care about me and love me but no one else does. I need someone here who wants to be my friend, or who at least cares for me.” Her mind traveled back to a familiar thought. Suicide seemed like the only way out. She had prayed for over a year now that the Lord would not let her wake up in the morning, but he never granted her wish. She didn’t know how much longer she could take this isolation. She began to pray again and told the lord, “if I can think of one person who cares about me on this earth, I will not do it. But if I can’t, then I will tonight.” She thought as hard as she could, about seminary teachers, church leaders, schoolmates, church friends, and her family. She could not think of one person. Lauren then decided to do it. She would do it that night, and she came up with the plan to carry it out.

She sighed and leaned against the wall, suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around and it was James, a boy from her seminary class. “Are you ok?” he asked. Her heart leapt a thousand times in the air. She smiled and said, “Yes, I’m ok.” He asked if she was sure and if she wanted to talk about whatever was bothering her. She said not now but promised to talk to him later. He smiled and said ok, then returned to the other seminary students. Lauren’s heart felt like it was about to explode. Someone in this world cares for me. Someone wants to know that I am ok. Someone loves me, she thought. She prayed to her Heavenly Father and thanked him for letting her know that someone cared so she didn’t take her life. She had a friend.

Now a college student, Lauren loves life more than ever and is so thankful that the Lord never granted her nightly prayers of so many years ago. Most of all she is thankful for James, and that he followed the prompting to go talk to her. Life truly is a wonderful, precious gift and should be treasured every minute of every day. Follow those simple prompting to say hello to someone, you never know what effect you could have on their life.

Family Prayer Is Powerful and Sustaining

"The Savior told us, 'Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed' (3 Nephi 18:21). In our day, the Church urges us to have family prayer every night and every morning. . . .

"Family prayer is a powerful and sustaining influence. During the dark days of World War II, a 500-pound bomb fell outside the little home of Brother Patey, a young father in Liverpool, England, but the bomb did not go off. His wife had died, so he was rearing his five children alone. He gathered them together at this very anxious time for family prayer. They 'all prayed . . . earnestly and when they had finished praying, the children said: "Daddy, we will be all right. We will be all right in our home tonight."

" 'And so they went to bed, imagine, with that terrific bomb lying just outside the door half submerged in the ground. If it had gone off it would have destroyed probably forty or fifty houses and killed two or three hundred people. . . .

" 'The next morning the . . . whole neighborhood was removed for forty-eight hours and the bomb was finally taken away. . . .

" 'On the way back Brother Patey asked the foreman of the A. R. P. Squad: "Well, what did you find?"

" ' "Mr. Patey, we got at the bomb outside of your door and found it ready to explode at any moment. There was nothing wrong with it. We are puzzled why it did not go off" ' (Andre K. Anastasiou, in Conference Report, Oct. 1946, 26). Miraculous things happen when families pray together."

---James E. Faust, "The Lifeline of Prayer," Ensign, May 2002, 60-61