So my (almost) 8 year old daughter humbled me again after her baseball game the other day.  I was not able to attend because my baby was napping and did not wake up in time, but thanks to my wife I got the play by play from the text messages.

My daughter has been known to get quite emotional if she does not do well, or do as well as she thought she could do.  If she has it thought out in her mind how something should go, and it does not go that way then we have a problem.  The last game she had before this experience she had a total melt down during the game and could not focus on was pretty much crying while she was batting.  With this kind of emotion you know she is not going to be able to focus and hit the ball, or much less anything else.

We had a talk about it after the game, and we also talked about controlling our emotions etc, but the main thing we talked about was being calm.  Well she was happy to let me know after this game (she did so well) that it was because of the little prayer she said in her mind before every “at bat”.  From what I hear she did clobber the ball too, and make some pretty good hits, and score some runs.

Ah, the power of prayer.  I really believe the prayer she said helped her calm down and focus so she could hit the ball, and play better.  She thinks its because she said a prayer, but either way I think its a win win opportunity to talk about the power of prayer!

Oh, and they did win the game!!

I am going to admit, last night was a struggle. I was very tired from a very long and hard day of working for both business and personal. Also had kids baseball games to attend and I was flat worn out, and looking forward to a good nights sleep! Around 3 A.M. I woke up to the screaming of my little 20 month old. Sometimes he wakes up, and then goes right back to sleep so I give him a minute. I wake up almost an hour later (accidentally because like I said I am tired) to find him still screaming, and now my 5 year old has added in the mix.

I am tired, frustrated, and just want to sleep and feel better for a new day. My 5 year old is telling me his room is scaring him, and the 20 month old is screaming in my ear. Hope you get a good idea of the situation. My wife is doing her best to stay awake and console as best she can too.

I decide to say a prayer and use the power of Jesus Chris and give our home a blessing and prayer of calm, and almost instantly everyone calms down and goes back to sleep.

Jesus Chris has such an amazing power that he has bestowed upon us priesthood holders, and it comes with so much responsibility. It got me thinking about how many members take the time to dedicate their homes unto the Lord. Every time I move into a new home (hopefully not for a while now with this latest move) I always dedicate my home with a blessing from the priesthood.

Blessing and dedicating your home to the Lord and his work is probably one of the most powerful things you can do to be able to get the right spirit in your homes. Your kids will sleep better, you will be safer from the outside world and temptation will have a harder time finding its way in.

I would recommend to any LDS Church member that has not dedicated their home to do so. The power of the priesthood of Jesus Chris and Heavenly Father is amazing. Even though I have been up since 3 A.M. I have never felt better! I feel so good, so blessed and am very proud to be a member of this Church!

I really am excited to share this little powerful moment I shared with my family the other day.  It taught me how powerful example is, and that your kids really are paying attention and listening, even if you think they are not.

For family home evening the other day we talked about a prayer structure in our home.  I explained to my kids that growing up we always had set days to say prayers.  Everyday we knew exactly who would be saying the prayer etc.  I found this method to work really well growing up, and I wanted to pass this tradition along to my kids.  One of the main reasons I wanted to do so, was because I found myself (as the Dad) always the one saying all the prayers every day.  I want all the kids to experience the joy and blessings of prayer, and just get into a better habit.

My kids say their nightly prayers, and I know my daughter has said prayers before tests during school (as I have encouraged her to do so) so saying prayers is nothing new to them.  The thing that struck a cord with me (and the reason I write this post) is because of what happened the morning after we set the new “prayer days”.

I was slow in getting up early in the morning, and just getting ready to face the day and start taking care of the kids and my 5 year old son comes into the room and with a very sweet voice tells me that they can’t start eating until I go downstairs and say the prayer.

WOW.

I had no idea they even said prayers on their own when they went down and fixed their own breakfast.  This was powerful to me.  I learned that they do say their prayers every morning when they eat, and were waiting to eat until a prayer was said from the person assigned for the day (because of the previous nights FHE).  I explained to them in a situation like this, they could just say a private prayer, but what a powerful testimony of prayer!