Why I believe

I know there are those that read my blog that are not religious. Some are even agnostic. Most of you know that I am Mormon. My parents are members and their parents were members. Growing up in Utah there are many Mormons. So it is easy to live life believing while relying on someone else's testimony.

I have to admit that every Sunday I just look at the large gathering of people amazed that they believe and that they are strong members. Maybe that comes from serving a mission in Germany where there were many branches not big enough to be wards. How can so many people believe that there is a God? How can so many people believe in the atonement? How can so many people get their whining family ready every Sunday and try to keep them quiet during sacrament meeting? What keeps them coming back? The only answer I have is that they must get answers to their prayers.

I am one to lose things all the time. I am way to used to it. This last week I have had to find three important things. I lost my keys to my school and classroom, my cell phone and the keys to Kyath's locker. I have looked everywhere imaginable. I looked in the normal spots and then I spread out the search. Nothing.

I decided that I could have the school make another copy of the keys. I would just have to admit that I lost them. I could go without the cell phone. Without the key, Kyath would just have to quit football.

Okay, I wasn't okay about Ky quiting football. I was ready to get metal cutters and start ripping apart these great lockers we just bought just to get his football equipment. I had been searching three days for the key. Don calmed me down and offered a prayer asking that we would find Ky's locker key. Then we went off to search. I checked my pockets and woala! There was the key. I had searched all of Ky's pants, but neglected to search mine. We found the key 30 minutes before Ky's football practice.

The day before that I had prayed to find my keys. I mentioned in my prayer that I had been under a lot of stress and that finding the keys would relieve a great deal of that. That day I found my keys.

Today I finally found my phone. I am sure everyone knows just how useless you feel without a cell phone. I am so dependent on it. Of course I didn't realize that until I lost it. I have called the phone many times because I knew it was charged and that it was on. But I never did hear it ringing. Last night it occurred to me that I had searched all the cars except the Galaxy. We hardly drive the Galaxy and so I didn't think I needed to. When the thought came to me, it was dark. The car doesn't have a dome light. I waited till today to look. Guess what I found?

So when I think of all the people that choose to believe in a God, I think it is because God answers prayers. He answers them no matter how simple or stupid the prayer is. He answers every time. Sometimes the answer is no or not on your life. But he answers every time.