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Video: ‘Are You Really There?’ Shows How Prayer Helps During Hardships

Popular Primary song with millions of YouTube views is focus of new Inspirational Message video

In the “Are You Really There?” Inspirational Message video, a young woman is among many looking for answers to prayer. Photo is a screenshot from the video. © 2023 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
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By Ryan Jensen, Church News


Janice Kapp Perry’s “A Child’s Prayer” has been sung by Primary children all over the world. Covers of the song have amassed millions of views on YouTube.

And in the Church’s latest Inspirational Message video, a new, acoustic duet of the song plays behind scenes of heartbreak and loneliness before showing outcomes of forgiveness and redemption.

 
During the first verse, as the singer asks if Heavenly Father is there, the video shows individuals experiencing disagreements, sadness, anger, confusion and doubt in different life scenarios.

And during the second verse of the song, those individuals battling emotions and complicated situations pray to find a way to overcome their different challenges. Some find a quiet place to kneel in prayer. Some bow their heads amid loud and crowded surroundings.

The two verses combine in a third to show how those facing trials find relief. Prayers are answered differently for each individual. While some found courage to act, others were comforted by a friend or teacher. Some found the patience to have a needed conversation.

One of the verses referenced to this song in the Children’s Songbook is Doctrine and Covenants 112:10.

“Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”

This video shows how Heavenly Father helps answer humble prayers in different ways.

Kapp Perry said the song came about as she was working through her own challenge of losing the use of a hand while working to write and compose music. Originally written from her perspective as an adult, she later wrote a verse from the perspective of a child.

 
“All kinds of combinations of people have sung it…It has been a favorite for me of any song I have written,” she said in a video published on the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s YouTube channel.

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