Elena happened to be at a baptism service a few weeks ago. Her story is very interesting. Several years ago she was looking for something solid in her life. She came to church and went through the lessons and decided to be baptized. After baptism she had hands laid on her head to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by some authorized servants of the Lord. She was doing well, learning, growing, progressing in wisdom and understanding -- until she met Michele. She started spending a lot of time with Michele, who had left the Church, asking her questions about why she had left. Michele told her all the lies that she was told that made her decide to leave. Without any knowledge to the contrary, and being very young in her faith, Elena lost everything and left the Church, having her name "blotted out." Because of this she is left to herself, not having the helps of the members or the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Without this gift she didn't have the ability to make wise choices so when a counselor told her to divorce her husband, she did. Her husband was very hurt, and tried to get her to recant, but the counselor told her to be strong -- that her dependence on her husband was just like being a prostitute. She listened. Her husband got angry, moved out, took the kids and left her alone in her house. She didn't want to be alone so she began to realize what she had done. She tried to talk to her husband and stop the divorce proceedings, but he was too angry to speak with her. She became distraught and despondent. She wanted her family back. She was desperate. She talked to everyone she knew, but nobody could help her. Finally, in desperation, she began to pray.
After the baptismal service I spoke with her and she asked if she could come to my house. She came and we talked about her situation. It was clear to me how to counsel her and I outlined a plan. She didn't want to hear any of it. She spent the night at my house and all the next day. Since she hadn't slept in a long time she mostly slept. That evening we talked again. She went through the same story and asked for what to do. I re-iterated the same steps as before. The next day she called me, asking what she should do. She hadn't done anything I said so I told her I had nothing more to offer. I told her to pray for help, but she said she did and it didn't help. "On the contrary," I told her, "your prayers brought you to someone who could help you, but you won't listen." She quit talking to me, and remains lost.
Michael
Michael was a famous artist who was in a commercial advertisement with fire and got burned. During the painful treatments he was given powerful medications for pain on which he quickly became dependent. After he had healed, he began to seek the medications. He had lots of money so he could hire doctors to administer them as much as he wanted. He called me because he was told I was willing to go to his house, but I was not told the reason for the visit. We talked a long time that night. It was clear he needed help. Over the next several years we had many interviews. I told him the only way to overcome his problem was to turn to the Lord. He said he had prayed about it, but he didn't get better.
However, the Lord sent him help in the form of a doctor who could give him more than drugs. I told him that salvation only comes when we seek the help of God. Jesus Christ has the power to change his heart and heal him from his addiction. I was able to teach him about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the atonement, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. He didn't see how that could help him so he did nothing. A few years later, he died from an overdose of the medications.
Pride
Both Elena and Michael had their prayers answered. Every sincere prayer is answered. The answers, however, don't always come as expected. It's our expectations and our pride that prevent us from seeing the answers that God puts right in front of us. We are blinded by our own wants, or pride. Pride is what you want. But sometimes what seems to be right, is wrong, and vice-versa so it's hard to know without the help of the Spirit. We pray to heal the sick, but perhaps the Lord has other ideas. We think we can have enough faith to prevent the death of a loved one, but the Lord says it's time for them to go home. The Lord sends comfort to us according to our prayers, but we don't see it and refuse to be comforted.
In my own life, there are many instances where I refused to accept an answer to prayer from the Lord, and it has caused me a great deal of suffering. Once, I was praying about marriage and was told that all would be well if I married in the Temple. I didn't. I let my pride get in the way, and did it the way I thought best. I was wrong -- with eternal consequences. I knew the answer, but I didn't do as I was told.
Joseph Smith Jr. learned this when he asked the Lord if Martin Harris could take the manuscript they had been working on. The Lord said, "No," but he persisted and lost the manuscript. From that experience he said, "I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it." This is humility.
Humility
Humility is accepting the will of the Lord, whatever it is. We don't see the big picture because we don't have the views of eternity. We are limited by time and space, and God is not. He knows all things. He knows the end from the beginning, but we have to learn the end at the end. When this is understood, it seems ludicrous to try to tell the Lord what to do, or to have pride; everyone would humbly submit to His will.
Humility also comes from knowing what Jesus Christ has done for us, and for me, personally. When I came to understand that I was so important to Him because of what He sacrificed for me I was in awe. I felt different. I knew in my heart that I was loved beyond all the stuff of the world. I was more important than everything. I also knew that even the bum in the street was that important to God. I began to understand why "the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart." (Moroni 8:26)
Only in humility can prayers be answered, "for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart." (Moroni 7:44) Humility allows us to put aside what we want and see the hand of the Lord in our lives. When the answer to a prayer comes, we are able to see it and accept it. We do according to the commandment given, and we are blessed. Answers come in unexpected ways, mostly through other people whom God sends. Even these people God sends may be unexpected. They may not seem to be of the Lord; they may be "republicans and sinners" in our eyes. Humility allows us to put aside all prejudice to accept the message.
There are two steps to humility. The first is the ability to see the answer when it comes, and the second is to do it. When Naman, the Syrian, sought the Prophet Elisha for healing the Prophet never came out to see him. Elisha sent a messenger to tell Naman to dip seven times in the River Jordan. Naman was offended and went away, sorrowing. Had his humble followers not given him some humility he would have remained a leper. He humbled himself because of the illness and went and did what Elisha said and was healed. First, his servants had to help him to see that Elisha's counsel was an answer to his prayers, and second, he had to forget about all the cleaner rivers in Syria and go and do exactly what Elisha had said.
Finding the answer
I believe every sincere prayer is answered. I have prayed for years with the answer in front of me and just thought my prayers weren't being answered because I wasn't worthy. In some cases, I lacked the humility to see the answer, and in others I could see what God wanted me to do, but I wanted to do it my own way. Now, I understand how to humbly seek the answers to prayers. I don't pray for things I am not willing to do. I know every humble prayer will be answered, and I need to be open to the answer when it comes.
We can develop the talent of receiving answers. Each talent is a gift, and there is a gift of the Spirit of receiving answers to prayers -- it begins with humility.
