He is always ready to receive us

I was reminded of the empowering story of Christ walking on water when I was taught by the sister missionaries at the TRC. I remember having studied this chapter in my religion class. For some reason, it made more of an impact on me this time around. It is found in Matthew 14 when the disciples are at sea, caught in a storm. Christ comes to comfort them; he is spotted walking on the sea as he approaches them. Peter, acting in firm faith, walks on the water also!
"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him..."
Verse 30-31 mean a lot to me. Although Peter shows this great act of faith, he immediately doubts afterward. I think we have all experienced the doubt and fear that Peter experienced in that moment, whether in the short or long term.
In the midst of his doubting, he calls out for the Lord's help! How beautiful is that? And Christ immediately stretches forth His hand to catch him. As I reread this, I was reminded of my brother. He has fallen away from the church, from God. Although it hurts me to see his strong faith and testimony of God falter, I know that the Lord is waiting with OPEN hands to catch him. The Lord's love is forever. Quoting this same brother's mission email from years ago, "He never forgets. He never forsakes."
I know that just how he saved Peter during his doubts and fears, that the Lord saves us too. Even in the little doubts. However, we MUST seek Christ. He will deliver us. He will never forget us. I know that is true.

Pray one by one

Pray one by one
There is a chapter is the Book of Mormon that has always touched me. 3 Nephi 17. Christ prays for the Nephite children. We can learn so much about Christ's character from this chapter and we can learn how we are to emulate Him. One verse that struck me while reading it this time around was verse 24.
"And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes toward heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them."
Immediately after Christ prays and weeps for them one by one, the heavens open and they are encircled by angels that minister unto them. First of all, that imagery is beautiful! Second, the principle we can learn from this is that prayer is powerful! It brings greater blessings than we realize. I believe that there is great power that comes from praying for others by name.

On my mission, I remember feeling great love for an investigator as my companion and I prayed for him/her by name. Whenever I've heard my mission president, a family member, or a companion pray for me by name, I felt a stronger love from Heavenly Father. We essentially feel the Lord's angels encircling us. There are many examples of people praying for others in the scriptures, like Enos. There is so much love felt as we read these verses: "wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them." After he follows through with his heartfelt prayer, his "faith began to be unshaken in the Lord". And then the Lord tells him, "I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith."
Too often, we think to only pray for ourselves and our needs. I know that as we pray specifically for others in our lives, we will feel a greater abundance of God's love because we are striving to become more like Christ in this manner. We, as Enos, will strengthen our faith and have our prayers be answered! Angels are among us and God will bless us more abundantly with their presence as we pray for others by name!