Ryan's question

The boys and I have been reading 'Preach My Gospel' together at meal times to prepare for Alex's baptism. We were talking about faith and Ryan said, 'How does God get our prayers?' I stumbled for an answer, but then realized that that is the problem with our prayers. We act like they are sign, sealed and delivered to God's inbox and then he'll read them and get back to us. But really, God is always with us. He is omnipresent, which I can't begin to understand, but He is aware of everything that we do. He watches us day by day. It makes me sad to realize that God has been with me all this time and I have failed to acknoweldge Him properly. Saying prayers is our way of directing our thoughts directly to him. 'Father, you see what we are at here and we could really use your help right now,' you know what I mean; just acknowledge His presence.
In Relief Society we listened to a beautiful arrangement of 'Nearer My God to Thee' and it really sunk in. Hello! God can't get any closer to us, he is always with us; if we want to be nearer to God we've got to do the snuggling, the praying, the listening, the do-gooding. And if we want him to 'talk' to us we just have to listen. He talks to us through the Holy Ghost or the scriptures. Which makes perfect since if God is always sitting next to us on the couch and we need guidance, He can direct us to the ultimate owner's manual through his mouth piece the Holy Spirit. (OK, I read all owner's manuals that go through my house, so this is a great analogy for me!)
I hope that Alex and Ryan are both learning from our gospel study outside of our scripture study. But if not, I know I am and I am GRATEFUL to my Heavenly Father that he blessed me with another insight into who He is.