Tonight is my angel friend's viewing, and I am leaving this evening after the viewing to travel back home. I will be driving through the night, so I knew I needed an especially good night's sleep last night. I went to bed shortly after midnight last night, and my sweet baby Jayden woke up wide-eyed at 5:30am!! I groaned.... "No, not today Jayden... of all the mornings." I prayed really hard explaining my situation to my Heavenly Father that THIS morning I really needed my baby to go back to sleep. I wanted to be well-rested, and I had a lot to do today. I just KNEW he was going to answer this prayer because it was extra important to me, and it didn't seem like a big request... I just needed my baby to sleep. I got up, made Jayden a bottle, and snuggled back in bed with him. As he was quieting down and actually acting sleepy again, I started to thank Heavenly Father for more rest...
Just as the words began to leave my lips, Jayden gave one big cough and threw up his entire bottle all over my neck, in my hair, down my back, and all over the sheets and pillows!!! Within seconds, I was up, out of the bed, with sheets off the bed, and into the shower with baby Jayden. I have to admit... I had a few grumbles to God saying, "This sure isn't what I had in mind!"
I showered and started packing up the clothes when I realized I should read my scriptures to have the Spirit with me. As I sat quietly, the thought came to me that God was answering the other, more important, part of my prayer. I had asked God to help me be well-rested and to get everything done in time. The thought came to me that being well-rested could mean a nice afternoon nap closer to the time I would be leaving anyway. Sleeping closer to the time of departure would help me as I drove through the night... and because I got up so early, I was getting everything packed up much earlier than I had planned leaving time for that afternoon nap.
Feeling that impression overwhelmed me with the knowledge of God's great love. He answered my prayer with a better plan than I had come up with.
Realizing that God had done what was best for me even though I had asked HIM for a slightly different plan, I remembered that I must and can rely upon HIM without any fear. Often, I hear people saying in humor, "Be careful what you pray for, He just may give it to you.... Don't ever pray for patience or humility because you don't want the trials God will send you with." People's comments like this have made me afraid to pray for Christlike qualities that I really do want to develop. I DON'T LIKE THIS!!
The reason I don't like this is because it paints God in light that HE is so cruel that he'll make us suffer great things just because we were foolish enough to ask for it. I don't believe HE works this way. I believe God is so loving that when we pray for patience or humility, HE opens our minds and our hearts to be able to use the trials that are usually already coming our way as a tool to learn more patience and humility. Life just plain stinks sometimes, and we often have rotten things happen to us. We have a choice to pray and ask God to learn qualities that would make us more like Jesus Christ amidst those trials, or we can "be careful what we pray for" and not really communicate our deepest wishes to God. We don't ever have to be careful for what we pray for when our prayers are sincere! Our Heavenly Father loves us more than we can imagine. HE really does want us to be happy.
I was reminded of this in my simple prayer this morning for my baby to go back to sleep... He listened to my requests and allowed to happen what was best for me in the end. I understand that God allows really hard trials to happen that don't give us much happiness at the time... believe me... I understand. I also believe my Heavenly Father when HE says how much HE loves me. I would never have to be careful to ask my earthly father anything because I trust that he will do for me what gives me the greatest happiness in the end. My Heavenly Father has an even more perfect, eternal, unconditional love than my earthly father. We can trust HIM with any prayer.
WOW!!! I cannot believe this happens to other people! I'm so happy! Okay, that sounds weird. But in those wee hours of the morning I literally feel like I must be the ONLY person not getting their prayers answered! LOL! My daughter (28 months) is usually a good sleeper, but for two weeks as she was starting to get sick (flu), her sleeping habits were annoying. She'd wake up 2 or 3 times in the night and she wasn't happy. Then when she was sick. Fuggettaboutit! We're talking 1-2 hour stints of pretend sleep! I started seeing colors I didn't know existed! Plus, I wake up at 5:15am every morning to get my oldest son ready for Seminary. So I would pray EARNESTLY. Like Enos! I hate to say it, but I used my prayers like wishes, "please oh, please". Then I'd get irritated and I'd say, "so, I don't understand why you can't bless a 2 year old with 2 more hours of sleep." Of course, I would alwas have to repend of my mortal vision because my daughter wanted to cuddle more (I wouldn't trade that for the world) and two nights, her congestion was so bad, she stopped breathing and started gagging because she needed to throw up. So, if I had been comfortable in my cozy REM sleep, who knows if I would have heard her stop breathing. I honestly don't know why I doubt sometimes. I have been shown enough miracles and been shown countless times how I was wrong you would think I would learn *hangs head in shame* Luckily, the Lord is wonderful and continues to bless and have patience with me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love how you reminded us that Father in Heaven is not cruel. He does not send us trials just to be cruel. I had sometimes thought about stopping praying for patience with my children because invariably that day, they would try my patience beyond what I thought I could bear. But YOU ARE RIGHT, what he did was OPEN MY EYES and HEART and lovingly trusted me to succeed in that trial/experience. He gave me a chance to be successful! Thank you for reminding me of this. I need to do better here.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one!! They certainly are earnest prayers, and I especially identified with your "please oh, please." .... and the colors you didn't know existed... lol!! That's hilarious and well-put!
DeleteGod always has multiple reasons for why He answers prayers the way He does, so I'm always so grateful when He lets me see even a small insight into His almighty ways. Thank you for your comment!