Would you really want it now?

In each case, Heavenly Father had a purpose in requiring that His children wait.

Every one of us is called to wait in our own way. We wait for answers to prayers. We wait for things which at the time may appear so right and so good to us that we can’t possibly imagine why Heavenly Father would delay the answer.

(Yes, yet more from this talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

Photo By Zannie

My turn to talk:

I know you’re probably wondering if my poor old blog is going to just spout someone else’s brilliance on philosophical topics from now on.  Don’t worry, it’ll get back to normal eventually.  See look!  Here comes a personal story!

I remember my first summer at BYU, searching and searching for a lost plane ticket.  It was my Dad’s frequent flyer voucher, a “get out of Utah free” card, if you will.  What a great gift for a daughter away from home.  Thanks, Dad!

One of my best friends was getting married, and she’d asked me to be a bride’s maid.  Oh, the excitement!  But her wedding was on the very day of my last summer final.  I’d have to fly back to CA if I was going to make it in time.

So where on earth was that ticket?

I prayed and searched and searched and prayed, but the heavens were closed. What happened to “ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find?” I paid my own way back for the wedding, which was doable, but I confess I did wonder why my prayers weren’t answered like I wanted.  (center of the universe syndrome)

Fast forward a month later.  Maybe not even that.

My “senior year” seminary teacher (hey, I can pretend I was a senior if I want to…. Come to think of it, since I haven’t graduated from high school yet, I s’pose I’m still a senior!  Hahaha… Forgive me, I digress…)

That dear, dear woman had been fighting a battle with lung cancer for a year or so, and finally left mortality behind at the beginning of fall semester.  She was the kind of teacher that turns her classroom into a family.  She was absolutely wonderful.  I am still learning from the things she taught us.  (L&R!  L&R!)  She is still missed.

The summer before she died, she wrote a song.  She asked if I’d help her write it down & arrange it since she wasn’t fluent in music.  Would I?  It was one of the highlights of my young life.  I felt even closer to her through that experience and I knew our song would be sung at her funeral. She would want me there.

Well, and let’s be honest.  Even if she wouldn’t really care or mind if I missed the celebration of her life (as they called it) I needed to be there for me.  Very important.

It was time to pray again for the finding of that missing voucher.  It was time to get that answer.

My mind was opened and in about 60 seconds I was saying tearful prayers of gratitude and sending up apologies for not trusting His wisdom that summer.

Photo By Zannie

I echo Pres. Uchtdorf -

The answer didn’t come immediately. But eventually I learned that God’s promises are not always fulfilled as quickly as or in the way we might hope; they come according to His timing and in His ways… Looking back, I know for sure that the promises of the Lord, if perhaps not always swift, are always certain.

Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experience. Often we can’t see the Lord’s hand in our lives until long after trials have passed. Often the most difficult times of our lives are essential building blocks that form the foundation of our character and pave the way to future opportunity, understanding, and happiness.

Me again.

I know my little example of a wedding reception and a funeral are pretty paltry in comparison with some of the trials and sacrifices of life.  The principle underlying is true, though:  God knows better than we do, His time-table is better than ours, and His love for us greater than we can understand.  It’ll all work out the way it should.

We just need to be patient.