Right now, I am reading about why God wouldn't answer our prayers (or it seems to us that He doesn't). One thing I realized is that perhaps He already has answered my prayers but I am not willing to follow those answers or accept them. Am I asking God for something over and over again because what He told me isn't what I wanted to hear? Because I am looking for a sign of what I wanted to hear, I probably can't even see His great mercy and love for me.
A story that Elder Lund related for this concept was this:
A returned missionary in the ward had been home about a year. He came to me one day and said that he was struggling to know what to do with his life. He felt that he was going nowhere. He had a construction job and was making good money, but he felt that construction wasn't what he wanted to do as a career. After a couple of counseling sessions, I said: "I feel impressed to say to you that what the Lord wants you to do is sell that new pickup truck you recently bought, break off the relationship with the girl you are currently dating, and go to college."
For a moment, he just looked at me, clearly shocked. Then he shook his head sadly. "I couldn't do that, Bishop," he said. "If I sell my truck, I'll lose a lot of money on it. And I really love this girl. And besides, why should I go to college? I've got a good job. Isn't there something else I can do?"Do you see something wrong with this guy's response? However, can we judge him without judging ourselves? I feel like sometimes that happens to me; I might think that there has to be another way or something better. The only way for me to really listen and know that He has answered my prayers is through humility and praying to know His will for me instead of praying for what I want or what I think I need in my life.
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