followers of my faith [Mormon Monday 13]

At my work we have Monday morning devotionals to start the week. Several months ago I was in charge of the thought. I don't remember exactly what it was I said (except that the comments people made to me afterward made me embarrassed at what I must have conveyed). The associate head of my department stopped by my desk later that day and handed me a card with the following written on it:

"The Lord will sometimes stretch our faith by asking us to wait beyond our own definition of a reasonable amount of time."

I guess that kind of gives you an idea of what I talked about (I think it was about blessings?).

In my reading of the 2006 BYU Women's Conference, Wayne Brickey's address "Thou Didst Hear Me" also discusses the wait for an answer to prayer. Unfortunately I can't find a copy of the talk anywhere online, so if you want to read the whole thing (recommended) you'll have to check out the book. And while you're at it you may as well read all the other talks. What an unexpected perk!

Here are a few paragraphs from the beginning of his address:

When His answer seems to be getting further away, it is actually getting closer. Now that is a simple fact, but a very important one that we sometimes forget. I repeat it in different words: The longer we wait, the more ready we are for the best possible answer. And the more ready we are, the more determined He will be to grant an answer that will surpass our greatest hopes. That is not just a fact about prayer and answers. It is a fact about Him. Knowing this can keep our hopes bright during the long wait. Remember what Joseph Smith declared: "Since the beginning of the world have not men heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath any eye seen, O God, besides thee, how great things thou hast prepared for him that waiteth for thee" (D&C 133:45).

Not only is the long wait worth it, but it makes a difference. By the time the answer finally comes, we have matured in patience. Oh, how patient our Father is. And oh, how vital it is that we become patient, too. We are learning about Him on the inside, you might say. Instead of just learning what He looks like, we are learning what it feels like to be as He is.

The long, faithful wait also teaches us to put things into his hands, to treat him as a perfectly reliable, living friend. As He sees our long-standing trust in Him, He accepts it as a token of absolute loyalty, a sign of our lasting, durable friendship with Him. When He sees to His satisfaction that we trust Him, and He finally answers, our joy is too great for words. Our relief and gratitude is nearly infinite, not just because we got an answer. We overflow with joy because we staked everything on our belief that He is a true friend, and it turned out that He was all that and more. When the long wait is over, when we contemplate the careful engineering and customizing and timing and thoughtfulness and generosity of His answer, we see that He had not once forgotten us all along.

So it isn't surprising to find our heroes in the scriptures saying things like, "Thou didst hear me." They say this with relief and joy, usually after a long wait. Here is how Alma said it: "And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity" (Alma 33:11).

God wants us to be like Him, and one way to accomplish that is to wait to give us answers to our prayers until we are ready. So have patience, have faith. Things will work out.