Unanswered Prayers... Or Are They?

It seems like every time I pray for something almost the exact opposite happens. Then I ask myself why? Why does life have to be so difficult? Does Heavenly Father not want me to be happy?

Take for instance last night - My wife had had a pretty rough night with the baby the night before and she was really tired and somewhat depressed. While she was upstairs getting ready for bed I knelt beside our bed and asked Heavenly Father to "please bless both Adelyn and Allison to get a good night's rest, so that Allison can be happy tomorrow." Well, either I don't pray with much faith that my prayers will be answered or it wasn't suppose to be because Adelyn was up all night crying. In fact, it was her worst night yet.

This morning when I got up and was getting ready for work I pondered why this was so. Why, after I pray for something does the exact opposite happen? I then reflected on what it was that I said during my prayer... "Heavenly Father, please help them get the sleep that they need." Why? Because I want Allison to be happy. And why do I want Allison to be happy? Then the underlying reason for my prayer was realized - Because when Allison is happy Chad is happy. The reason behind my prayer was selfish. That's why my prayers aren't often answered... because I'm looking out only for myself. I don't think that I do that knowlingly most of the time. But I needed to learn a lesson about prayer and my intentions while praying.

When I pulled up to work this morning, before going in I sat in my car and offered up a totally different prayer. Instead of asking my Heavenly Father to bless my wife and child to be happy, I asked him to help me do those things that would help me be positive and encouraging and happy so that my attitude would be condusive to having the spirit in our home, which spirit is the changing factor in people's lives.

God is the author of joy and happiness. God's messenger is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit communicates peace, joy and love to us. If I want have my wife and child to get some peace and rest I must invite the spirit into our home.

It is interesting that after my prayer this morning I received a phone call from Allison who was in much better spirits than last night. I know that my prayer was answered because my intentions changed from what would make me happy to what I could do to be happy and help others to feel the same.