I recently ended a facebook post with #prayersareanswered. I had been praying to the Lord about a situation that had come up and He did answer the prayer I had prayed but not in the way I wanted. Michael McClean has a song entitled: "Unanswered Yet? The Prayer" In which he sings about ones silent pleadings not being answered in our time but in the Lords time and how our prayers are written on a Heavenly Roll.
This year we are studying the Book of Mormon and I recently came across one of my favorite verses where Alma is teaching about the coming of Christ, His infinite Atonement and how to "call upon" our Father in Heaven: "Yea, cry unto him for mercy, for he is mighty to save. Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him. Cry unto him when you are in you fields, yea, over all your flocks. Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your households, both morning, mid-day and evening. Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies. Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness. Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them. Cry over the flocks of your fields that they may increase. But this is not all, ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in the wilderness. Yea, when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare and also for the welfare of those who are around you." (Alma 34:18-27)
Today as I was sitting in the temple I had many of my prayers that I had prayed run through my mind and how those prayers changed with each changing season. Some are still waiting to be answered, with many being answered not the way I wanted; but answered by a loving Heavenly Father who answered them in His own loving way.
Then these words started flowing:
In the Spring of my life I learned a simple Child's prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. His love be with me through the night, and wake me in morning light. And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. In Jesus name Amen."
In the summer of my life my prayers were all about me, and were not answered in the way I would have liked them to be. Instead they were answered with a gentle yet painful no or a tender loving "not yet my precious child."
Now in the autumn of my life my prayers are no longer about me but for those I love. I've learned the gentle no was for my own growth and I've had wonderful blessings poured upon my head when I accepted "not my will be done but thine will be done."
When I come to the winter of my life I'm not sure how my prayers will change but I hope with my new pearls of wisdom that I will continue to silently plead for others and patiently endure the painful "no's" and always remember not mine will be done but thine be done.
