“An Answer to Prayer,” Friend, June 1997, 42–43
An Answer to Prayer
By prayer … let your requests be made known unto God (Philip. 4:6).
When I started first grade, Mom said that she and Dad could not always be with me. And that if I ever needed help when they weren’t around, I should call on Heavenly Father and He would help me. I know that in the Book of Mormon and the Bible, whenever Jesus Christ needed help, He talked to Heavenly Father.
Dad travels a lot and was away one evening when Mom was making us a nice meal by roasting a turkey breast. She cooked it the time the package said to cook it. When she put the meat thermometer in, it said the meat was done. She told me later that she thought the meat was still a little pink but that sometimes when they add basting ingredients to turkeys, the meat is sometimes pink but still done.
We sat down to eat, and I did not want any turkey breast. I ate the other food on my plate. When we were finished, we sat down on the couch so Mom could read to me.
Suddenly Mom got a sharp pain in her stomach, and she bent over and stopped reading. “Wait just a minute, Malcolm,” she said. She started to read again, but the pain came back. This time she was doubled over on the floor, and she couldn’t talk. The dog was outside and scratching to get in. When the pain eased, Mom asked me to let the dog in, then doubled over again in pain.
I quickly dropped to my knees and asked Heavenly Father to help my mother. After my prayer, I asked her if I needed to call 911 and she said no. Within a few minutes the pain was completely gone, and she had no symptoms other than a few turkey-flavored burps.
Mom told me later that she just about cried when she heard my prayer. She felt so good to know that I would turn to Heavenly Father for help. And the minute I said, “amen,” she felt something change in her stomach. She said, “It was like someone turned off a light switch, and the pain, which had been getting worse and worse, started to get better.”
Illustrated by Steve Kropp