Question
Dear Gramps,
My husband and I have been praying over a specific problem regarding faith. We are getting drastically different answers to our prayers. Why do people who are praying regarding the same issue get such different answers to their prayers? Who is right?
Bri
Answer
Dear Bri,
Learning to communicate with our Father in Heaven in prayer, and to discern and understand the answers takes time and is a skill we grow in if we continue striving. And the reason two people might get different answers has many possible answers. First, the Lord treats us each as individuals, what is needful for one, may be very different from what is needful for another. Second, it may have to do with each persons capacity to feel and recognize the Spirit. Related to this, one could be misinterpreting the answer they receive.
But don’t despair. In my experience, the Lord makes the most important answers very clear. The clearest answers I have received are when I hear the voice of the Spirit, but those experiences have been the exception. And the most important answer I look for is peace. Answers may come in many forms, but if I feel peace, I know that it is from the Lord.
Pres. Monson once shared the words of Ezra Taft Benson:
“All through my life the counsel to depend on prayer has been prized above almost any other advice I have … received. It has become an integral part of me—an anchor, a constant source of strength, and the basis of my knowledge of things divine. …
“… Though reverses come, in prayer we can find reassurance, for God will speak peace to the soul. That peace, that spirit of serenity, is life’s greatest blessing.”
Paul also spoke of this peace in Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
If you and your husband have not received peace as part of your answer, then I recommend that you keep searching, keep praying.
Gramps
