What I believe

I am a Mormon; a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Twice a year, members of this church get the opportunity to hear from some of their leaders, including the prophet who receives revelation from God and tells us what He expects from us. His message is for the world, not just its members. Sometimes that message is a sweet reminder that He is there and that He loves us. Sometimes it is a sharp reminder to live the commandments that He has given. Whatever the message is, when the weekend is over, I am always spiritually uplifted and filled with a desire to repent and do better. This General Conference, I had a very special experience.
On Saturday morning, at 4:30 a.m., Chelsea woke up crying. I have been trying to get her to sleep through the night without eating so I went into her room to comfort her. It took some doing (and when I say some doing, I mean nearly 20 minutes) to get her calmed down enough to just sit on my lap and not cry. When I thought she had finally fallen asleep, I put her back in her crib and started my way out of her room. No sooner had I left than she started crying again and I had to start the whole thing over.
45 minutes of this since she first woke up and I couldn't take it anymore. On the outside, I was the picture of composure. On the inside, I felt like I was exploding. It was the hardest morning of my life. I finally just put Chelsea in the crib and went to get Drew to help. It was a very rough, very long morning.
Later that day, I decided to call my mother to ask her what she thought. She suggested two reasons for Chelsea's behavior.

1. She wasn't getting enough to eat before bed.
2. Maybe I was wrapping myself up too much in my projects and she wanted more attention.

Since Chelsea eats like a horse (or a cow. Are we sure babies don't have four tummies?), I wasn't sure it could be the first one, but the second one seemed possible. I do tend to immerse myself in my projects and get frustrated when I'm trying something new and it doesn't work (fabric is expensive!). I hung up the phone with Mom, deciding that for my family's sanity (not to mention my own), I would just give in and feed Chelsea when she awakened in the middle of the night. It wasn't until the third speaker in the Sunday morning General Conference session that I thought about Mom's second suggestion again.
This speaker was a woman, the general president of the Primary (ages 2-11). In her talk, she spoke about a study that was done of a little family, a mother, father, and toddler in their home. It was breakfast time and the mother, after having played with and taken care of the toddler, left to run an errand and the father was left with the child. He was reading when the insistent toddler made noises and tried various methods of getting her father's attention. He stopped reading and played with her for a long while before deciding to watch a video on his phone. Those studying the situation discovered that each time the parent's attention shifted completely to another occupation, a loss of light was detected in the child.
After hearing this story, I felt guilt. I knew that I had been guilty of this during some of my projects and sometimes when I was too electronically connected. When a person feels this guilt, he/she can do one of two things: Give into the guilt and just feel bad about themselves, or make a change. I decided that I would repent of losing precious moments with my daughter and do better.
Do I think it is coincidence that I had the experience I did and then a message was given that addressed exactly my problem? No. The Lord hears our prayers. He cares about us and whatever is important to us is important to Him. He will answer our prayers, sometimes not right away, but He will answer them. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to the Prophet this weekend. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet and the only one authorized to receive revelation from the Lord for the entire world. I know that as we choose to follow him, we will be blessed for our faith. If you are unfamiliar with my church or what we believe, please don't hesitate to ask me, or find the Mormon missionaries in your area. We would be more than happy to share the good news (did you know that's what gospel means?) with you. You can also learn more about us from http://mormon.org/ and http://www.lds.org/ . If you want to hear what the prophet has to tell the world about what the Lord expects from us, click here for a video of his message, or here

 for any other message given during this conference. Now to finish my story.
After listening Rosemary M. Wixom (the general Primary President), I spent more time playing with Chelsea and just spending time with her for the rest of the day. Last night, she didn't wake up once. Coincidence? I don't believe in coincidence.