1 Nephi 15:8-11

8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

9 And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?

11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.



Nephi was having a conversation with his brothers about what Lehi had taught them. His brothers were telling him that they didn't understand what there father Lehi had taught them about the Olive trees. Nephi is asking them if they had prayed about it.

We all have the privilege to listen to the prophet and apostles regularly. Sometimes we don't fully understand what we need to do. Sometimes we do understand but we don't want to do it. We can pray about what we hear in Conference, in Church, in Seminary, even in Young Women's.
Sometimes the prophet asks us to do things like don't tattoo your body, or dress modestly, or only wear one set of earrings.
It is sometimes hard to follow that council when for example the fashions are short and therefore not modest. We might rationalize in our minds that it's not my fault the fashions are short. We do have the free agency to choose not to wear those clothes. We can pray and ask Heavenly Father to help us find modest clothes.

When my daughter needed to get a dress for a school dance, we went and looked at the different stores we thought were in our budget. The dresses we saw were either too short or were missing a lot of fabric on the top. We were frustrated and sad that we couldn't find "the dress".
I prayed and asked for Heavenly Father's help to find a dress because I wanted my daughter to be happy.
After several stores we ended up at the cloth store. We found a pattern that was modest and fabric that was pretty. We took it home and before I began sewing the dress I again asked for guidance to help me make a dress that would look nice and that she would feel good wearing. The dress turned out and she was happy with it.

My prayer was answered.

When we are asked by the prophet to do the things that God wants us to do because he knows our lives will be happier if we will. We can ask for him to help us find a way to obey that commandment. I know that we will be blessed if we will follow him.

Love, Sister Madsen