"Heavenly Father, are you really there? And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away, But I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
"Suffer the children to come to me." Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee.
Pray, He is there; speak, He is listening. You are His child; His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer; He loves the children. Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven."
This is one of my all time favorite songs...I especially love hearing it sung by the children in Primary.
I want to share a story (From the book "Others" by Blaine M. and Brenton G. Yorgason as told to them by Don H. Smith) that had a great impact on me when I read it as a young mother.
"Suzie, our youngest child, was born with cerebral palsy, and has never walked a step in her life. So we had to have someone take care of her day and night. Our little boy Cory took over that assignment, day and night, for years.
When Cory was about nine we went to a ward Decoration Day picnic. When we got there Cory wandered over to where a man had several boxes of turtles and toads for sale. In a few minutes Cory came running back shouting, 'Daddy, Daddy, can I buy a horny toad?' Our boy had never seen any of those things, and he was very excited. He had one in his hand and he wanted to buy it.
I asked him how much it was, and he told me thirty-five cents. I am the last of the big spenders, so I said, 'Sure, son. Does the man have two?' He said yes, so I suggested that he buy one for Tommy, who lived across the street, and I gave him a dollar.
He came back proudly holding two toads. He took one over to Tommy, and over the next few weeks they played with them together, and they grew quite fond of them. So now he could watch little Suzie and play with his horny toad at the same time, and when we put him to bed at night we'd have to go in after he was asleep and take his little toad out of his hand, he loved it so much.
After Cory had it about two months, he and Tommy were playing out on the front lawn and Tommy's toad got away. It got under the house, and they couldn't find it. They were terribly upset about it. They looked for it for days, but they never did find it. So Cory got even closer to his toad.
About two months later Tommy came over and Cory hadn't come home from school yet. Tommy asked, 'Mrs. Smith, can I play with Cory's toad, please?' She said he could and told him to go ahead. He took it out and was playing with it in the back yard when his mother called him to come home. So Tommy just set the toad on the end of the diving board and ran home. Cory and I got home together about two hours later, and a few minutes later he let out this blood-curdling scream, and I ran out the back door to see what was wrong. He was standing on his toes, right on the edge of the pool, looking down at the toad which was stretched out on the drain. It had been there for two hours, and of course it was dead, and he just sobbed, 'Daddy, Daddy, what can I do?'
Cory's ears were under treatment at that time, and so he couldn't dive down and get it out. I wasn't really fond of the toad myself, and so I wasn't about to dive down to get it. But Cory cried and cried.
About that time his older brother, Terry, came out and said, 'I'm not going to touch that toad, it's dead!' But we convinced him that if it was dead, it really wouldn't hurt him if he would dive down and get it.
We got an egg carton and cut two inches off the end of it, and Terry dived down and brought the toad back up to Cory. I was standing at the edge of the pool when Terry brought the dead toad up and handed it to Cory, who just sobbed and sobbed as he held it in his hand. In desperation, Cory sobbed, 'Daddy, Daddy, what shall I do?'
Well, it about broke my heart, and so very sympathetically I said, 'Why don't you just throw it in the trash?'
With that, he just cried all the harder, and so I said, 'Son, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! There's nothing you can do for that toad now. It's been dead for over two hours. Why don't you just put it on the fireplace over there, and tomorrow morning you and I will go out and bury it.'
I started to walk away. Terry, who was a deacon then, was lying on the edge of the diving board, and he said, 'Dad?' I asked him what he wanted, and he didn't say anything, so I started to walk on. Again Terry said, 'Dad?' Again I asked him what he wanted, and again he didn't answer. So I was just ready to go through the door when he said, 'Dad?' I said, 'Terry, what do you want?' And he said, 'I was just wondering if you could give that toad a blessing.'
I said, 'Son, you can't give that little toad a blessing. It has been dead for two and a half hours.' He said, 'But Dad, when I was so sick at Christmas and the doctor couldn't help, you gave me a blessing and I got better right away. So I don't see why you can't give Cory's toad a blessing.'
I said, 'Because it's just a toad!' and went into the house. But then I asked myself, was it just a toad? Not to Cory, it wasn't. That little toad was one of the priceless things of his life. So he and Terry took it in to the bathroom, and I didn't hear this prayer, but I know that this is the gist of it. Cory got down on his knees, and he said, 'Dear Heavenly Father, please bless my little sister. Bless her that people will be kind to her, and that she will be able to have fun with other little kids. And please give me back my little toad.'
He then took the toad out and put it on the fireplace. About nine that night I told Cory to go to bed, so he went out and pushed his toad, and it was as stiff as a board. Dead. So he went up to his room and got on his knees again and said, 'Dear God, please bless my little sister. Bless her that people will be good to her so she can have fun, and please give me back my little toad.'
The next morning was Saturday, and we were all sleeping in, and Cory got up about seven o'clock and went out to his little toad that had now been dead for sixteen hours. It was still stiff and dead and withered up, so he picked it up and came back to his bedroom and got on his knees again. And he didn't just pray. This little boy literally talked to God.
'Please Heavenly Father, please bless my little sister, help her to have fun, and bless her that people will be kind to her so she can do the things that other little kids can do. And please give me back my little toad.'
Then he came out of his bedroom and took hold of me and said, 'Daddy, Daddy, look Daddy. My little toad was just asleep. See his eyes, he's awake now.'
That little toad was alive! Now I ask, who are we? Who are we? Does God love us? He does, and he blesses us according to our obedience, no matter how old we are or how unimportant what we are asking for may seem to others. I know!"
I, too, know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers!
