God’s plan and God’s will work hand in hand, and when we are not in tune with God’s will, our prayers go against God’s plan. When God gives faith for a specific situation – his promissory note of inevitability – and if we then exercise belief in that faith, God will answer our prayer 100% of the time, bar none. However, the degree to which God honors the specific details of our prayer depends entirely upon the degree to which our prayer is wholly aligned with his will for that situation.

So, if I am to know for certain that God will answer my prayer according to the specific details of my prayer, I must first, through obedient humble submission, align my heart, mind, and spirit with God’s will. His will becomes my will, allowing me to know his will, and thereby pray according to his will, not mine. And second, I must exercise belief in the situation-specific faith God gives to me – the result; answered prayer, because belief based on God-given faith = answered prayer 100% of the time, bar none. The answer to my prayer, according to the specifics of my prayer, is on its way because God wills it according to his plan. My prayer is already answered, and all that remains is thanking, praising, and worshipping him for staying true to his promise, the promise given me by his situation-specific provision of faith.

Where belief is absent, doubt replaces faith; without faith, belief is selfish expectation.

You are very wise. I will continue to be faithful and patient and will have that talk with my Bishop. Thank you so much.

I read your comments and have a sense of the frustration you’re experiencing.

Life can be very painful when those closest to us are bearers of pain, bringing it home nearly every day.

I wouldn’t begin to offer you counsel regarding your husband, but I hope you will contact your Bishop and together seek the Lord’s guidance for your particular circumstances.

I commend you for being a woman of faith, it lead you to return to activity in the church.

My experience has taught me that the Lord will not let us down, but he will try our faith, and require us to be patient.

Things could be much worse, express gratitude to the Lord for the good things you have. I suggest you list all the good things you have on a piece of paper and review the list daily. It may surprise you what the Lord has done!

When I was in viet nam as a solider I did my best to be cheerful when things were at there worst. Sometimes it was hard to find things to be thankful for, but the more I thought about it, the more my list grew.

OK, just read the section from Jared about receiving answers to prayers, which was helpful and has already answered a few questions of mine. I do read the scriptures, I do pray constantly, I do have a testimony and try my best to go to Church. I don’t want to see a counselor because the only one I know has the right answer is God himself. I haven’t given up praying though and am still pleading, begging and crying for an answer, but been less active for such a long time and going back to Church I find it so so hard to know how to identify when he’s trying to answer my prayers. He’s probably already answered me numerous times and dropped hints or come to me in my dreams and I still don’t know. I try my best to be in tune….but still nothing. Jared said it took him nearly a year before he got an answer to his prayer, its taken me this long…whats another year.

From……Still a Lost Sheep

I just want to say first that I love the LDS Church with all my heart and soul, always have and always will. I am 31 years old and the eldest child of 6 siblings. After a very hard life of having to witness an abusive relationship between my parents I went less active at the age of about 14. I began to question the church and why as a child, that God will let children suffer in such a heartless way. After becoming inactive I ran away from home, started mingling with the wrong sort of friends and then quickly began drinking and smoking.

I then started to realize in my late teens that I really didn’t enjoy this life I had created and tried numerous times to come back to the Church as I felt like my own spirit had left me when I went inactive.

I found my husband at the age of 19 (also a less active member) and have been with him ever since. We are now married with 3 beautiful girls.

However……Because I have wanted to be active again, I have tried and tried numerous times to to try to encourage my husband to come back to church with me but it falls on deaf ears. I have given up most of the wrong things in life and even paying my tithing because as far as I’m concerned I need all the blessings I can at the moment (very selfish of me but true).

I am seriously considering divorce because of his drinking problems & my suspicions of him cheating. But then he always comes back to me and I always forgive him. I feel like I am one of those “Lost Sheep” that our Prophet and teachers speak of.

I pray and pray again……for months now I having been asking for an answer! I don’t want to divorce my husband because I want to be sealed in the Temple. But if I don’t leave him I could spend many more years trying for nothing and by then I’m old and ugly and will never find a husband to seal us together!!!

This makes me very confused because I don’t know what the right answer is. I do have a close relationship with my Father in Heaven and try to make my home humble to feel the promptings of the spirit, but still have not heard an answer. I feel so lost and alone and have left the matter in Gods Hands now. But I feel as though I’m walking through my life blind with no direction.

I am still faithful and hope that he will answer my prayers but how long should one wait? Am I asking the wrong questions? Is it because I am not faithful enough? Am I been punished for my mistakes years ago? Am I being stupid because ultimately Its my own fault that its become like this? Should I just forget about wanting an answer and wait for it to come?

I honestly have no clue what to do. The pain, heartache and constant worry makes me want justice and vengeance. Sometimes I wish the Second Coming will hurry up
so all the pain goes away, but then I’m still stuck because I’m not sealed to my children.

I can’t win.

Anyway, Ive always valued members thoughts and the Gospel and will greatly appreciate any words of advice.

Love u all……From a Lost Sheep

My friend once asked me the same question, he asked me “the people that keep talking about how much they are blessed are so ignorant, they just think about themselves, they are very proud that they are loved. what about the people that are starving, there are people dying everyday because of hunger, etc,etc…”

I was thinking about it.

I think God never promised a perfect happy life on this earth. What He promised is life eternal if we obey.

In the scriptures we can find it very often that the Lord asked us to feed the hungry, lift up the hand that hang down, morn with those that morn, rejoice with those that rejoice. It’s up to us to make a difference around us. His just judgment will come to everyone at the last day.

Vengeance is the Lord’s, because He does not want any of his brother or sister have hate or hold any grudge against anything or anyone. It is just too heavy for us to bear. So He ask us to cast that burden at His feet. This is His pure love. He wants us to be free, We just need a little faith to have a happy life.

I feel so sorry for the kids that are abused, or starving, or abandoned, or for whatever reason suffering. I’m doing my best to help, even just to have them at my home for some time, to show them love, to make good meals for them. I really can’t much to change the world, really can’t, I wish I could do much more, but I have my limitations. I’m praying to have the chances to serve those little ones in need, we just need to pray and do our best to make a difference. Leave the rest to Heavenly Father.

I trust Him and Love Him. He is just. Hope I did not say anything offensive.

Maybe there is this part of our faith that we doubt and God knows it. He wants us to see this. He wants us to never doubt no matter what. No matter what horrible despicable things happens to us or others. He wants all of us to know that either there is a point where we will give up on him and blame him or we will like Job or Moses and never give up on him. To us these matters might seem so entirely soul wrenching, but to him- a God who is omnipotent and who’s glory and intelligence surpasses all comprehension- it is but a simple test that we must pass or we cannot receive what he has in store for us
whether that be in this life or the next.

We may think that our trails are worse than most, but if you read the Scriptures you will find the many stories of what people go through are probably worse than yours. Maybe if you live your whole life and you learn this one thing you have accomplished all that God wanted you to do in this life. This would be more evident that God does love us and in the deepest and most real way he proves us and purifies us like pure gold burnt and heated multiple times until it is clean and ready.

Its not that what you want God won’t give to you, its that what you want God knows is not what you need. What most of us need is the refiners fire that takes us to where we have never been before- the nucleus of our problems, not the outer shell that we can only see.

We may be really good people to ourselves and to others, but God knows what we are really made of. He knows where we will fall short. Where we need to be stronger: Read Either 12:27-28. Abraham 3: 23-27.

Our Trials are horrible, but a eternity never getting over our biggest problems and living a eternaly damned life is worse. Baby’s have been murdered, Women have been rapped, and the greatest symbol of love was crucified on the cross. Don’t be full of malice and hate, forgive and forget. To the very ones who he created and still loved, the Holy Savior said to those men who pierced him- “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!”

Take heart you are a disciple of Christ.