prayer: trials and earthquakes?

When I was at BYU, a friend asked if I prayed for trials. I told him that I figured Heavenly Father would send all that I needed… and frankly, I wasn’t interested in asking for more.  He didn’t exactly agree with me.

Yesterday in sacrament meeting the preparedness specialist advised us to pray for the earthquake to happen during the day, in warm weather, and not on Sunday.  Huh? Again, though a large earthquake may be inevitable, I don’t want to pray it here. And honestly, sunlight would be nice for cleanup and safety, but I’d almost rather it happen at night when I know my family is close by. Jimmy wouldn’t be 40 minutes away and the kids wouldn’t be scared at school. I want to be together as a fam… which is also why I wouldn’t pray for it to NOT come on Sunday. As for warm weather… yah – okay, I’d much rather have a natural disaster in warm weather. Still… I’m not going to pray it here.

So – what am I willing to prayer for?

Perhaps I’m completely off-base… and a perfect heathen. Maybe it’s appropriate to pray for trials. But for now, I’ll work on spiritual strength so I have a reservoir of faith when the trials do come.

p.s. last night in the middle of our couple prayer, there was a tiny tremor. Jimmy paused. I wondered if it really was an earthquake. The seismologists never acknowledged it though our neighbors felt it too. Now – if it would have happened 6 hours earlier, we wouldn’t have felt it because Abe was busy bouncing all around the house. But – as it was… it happened on Sunday, in cold weather, and at night… not exactly what our preparedness specialist was hoping for. May the big one never come!