illumin8

I just had a realization today.  Prayer is to help us receive blessings that God is willing to give us, but are dependent on our asking.  God as our Father also recognizes our petitions as children and grants us according to our desires as a loving Father that respects our agency.  So Friday when I prayed for a trial, what did I get?  Just what I asked for. 

I brought a camera to Jerusalem to sell, hoping to make a small profit.  So I found my buyer, brought the camera to sell, and worked out a fair trading price.  Then what happened? I asked about the goods.  Bad idea. Really bad idea.  I ended up getting a lot less than I originally bargained for and it kind of really ruined my day.

So obviously as a unrational human, I spent the whole day stewing over the situation to see where I went wrong.  I’ll be emotionally over it tomorrow, but I am kind of glad I had my hundred dollar trial.  I mean, in the end I got what I asked for, right?  So then it hit me tonight as I was getting ready to pray.  Asking for a blessing is smart, but then you don’t get to pick the trial to pay for the blessing (because there aint no such thing as a free lunch).  But then again, you don’t necessarily want to pray arbitrarily for trials, because then you may not get the exact blessings you want, although this approach is probably better than praying for blessings.  So, the best solution is to pray for 1) a specific blessing with a specific trial in order to receive the blessing and 2) if that doesn’t work out, a better understanding of the eternal economy.