Papa, can you hear me?

This past week I have been putting a lot of thought into who God really is. I think the most important thing we can recognize and come to know is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. Wait what? God is our Heavenly Father? Then that must mean that I am a child of God! Whoa. Let's go a bit further into this truth shall we?

I love how beautifully our former Prophet President Gordon B. Hinckley puts this profound truth:

"I believe without equivocation or reservation in God, the Eternal Father. He is my Father, the Father of my spirit, and the Father of the spirits of all men. He is the great Creator, the Ruler of the Universe. … In His image man was created. He is personal. He is real. He is individual. He has “a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s” (D&C 130:22).

In the account of the creation of the earth, “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).

Could any language be more explicit? Does it demean God, as some would have us believe, that man was created in His express image? Rather, it should stir within the heart of every man and woman a greater appreciation for himself or herself as a son or daughter of God. …"

This is something that is so important for us to remember every day- that we were created in the image of God. There have been many many times in my life where I get down on myself and I just feel so imperfect and so weak! Then the Spirit reminds me that I was created in the image of my Father in Heaven, which means that I have the potential to become like Him someday through His Son and my Savior Jesus Christ.

Another really important thing we understand when we know who God is to us personally is the importance of prayer and the blessing that it is! For some reason when I think about talking to my Heavenly Father I can't help thinking of Barbara Streisand in one of her movies singing "Papa, can you hear me?"  And in answer to her question in an eternal sense, yes Barbara, God hears you and your prayers!

Just like our earthly fathers here want to hear from us and know how we're doing, what's going on in our life, our questions and concerns, our Father in Heaven wants the same. Prayer is how we communicate with our Heavenly Father and tell Him the things of our hearts. Prayer is how we can gain a testimony that He is really there. I testify through my own personal experiences that Heavenly Father truly hears our prayers and answers them in His own time.

I have had experiences in my life of what life is like when we know that God is our Heavenly Father and when we lose sight of that. When we remember who God is and who WE are as well, life has purpose and more meaning. We have hope.