Laboring

In my morning study of a talk given in General Conference 1987, I read this by Robert D. Hales, who was then Presiding Bishop in the church:

May the prayer of Alma also be our prayer:

“O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me. …

“Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them. …

“O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.

“Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee” (Alma 31:32–35).

“We love you; we miss you; we need you. Please come back.” Come back to go to the temple, enter into the covenants, and receive the ordinances of eternal salvation.


It got me to thinking about how to reach out to lost souls and who is in my circle of influence who needs reaching out to.  I have learned that it is sacred work to reach out and in that process we strengthen our own spiritual underpinnings.

It is one of my favorite things in the scriptures to read others' prayers.  

It is also interesting to note that the title of this post is laboring.  When you think of a woman who is laboring to bring a new life into this world, it is work indeed.  It is hard.  It requires focus and determination.  But it is worth every effort because the new life that is brought into the world is so innocent and beautiful!