purple skittles

I LOVE purple skittles! They are my very favorite candy.. next to almond joys that is. Whenever someone asks me what they can do for me I most always say "A purple bag of skittles." 98% of the time I don't get them. Maybe I'm just being a little silly but I really want them! I desire them but I am not committed to doing everything it takes to get them.

I was thinking about real intent this morning. Sometimes we may ask Heavenly Father for something and then we don't receive it. Some of us might walk around saying things like "He doesn't love us" or "Why doesn't He care about me?" when we don't get something we think we deserve. We often times forget about real intent. When Moroni exhorts us to pray about the Book of Mormon he says "if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you..." Real intent meaning we will act on the answer we receive. Have you ever prayed and said "if you give me this then I will do this!" I think we all have fallen into that kind of thinking at one point in our lives. That is not real intent unless we are going to hold our end of the deal. How often do we say things without meaning them?

Holding our end of the deal is always so important. Heavenly Father doesn't need to prove that He loves us by answering each one of our prayers. We need to prove we love Him by having real intent and keeping His commandments. Jesus Christ said "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15) "Real intent is a commitment." (Elder Dallin H. Oaks)

I know when I actually get my skittles that 2% of the time they mean so much more to me. If I would get them every time then it wouldn't feel as special. I would always get what I wanted and turn into a spoiled brat. People know that having skittles isn't going to help or harm me, its just something silly I am asking for. Even when we have real intent sometimes we still aren't given what we desire. Asking more than one time and doing everything in our power to make that prayer come alive is so important. He will answer your prayer! "Answers will come in the Lord’s own way and in His time." (Barbara Thompson)