Day 49

God does answer prayers.

Remember how on Day 44 I talked about the book I've been reading for Japanese?  Well, I'd like to talk about it a little again.

One question that I continually asked myself as I read this book, is given the situation that Father Rodrigues is put in--to either apostatize and save all the people who are being tortured or not apostatize and cause the Catholic followers to be tormented--what would I do?  I don't think I'll ever be in a situation as dire as this, but I still wanted to figure out what to do.  I had a really difficult time figuring out what would be the right thing to do in the eyes of God, so I prayed.  It's been a few days, but I've continually been praying about it and today as I was reading my scriptures I received an answer.

I am currently reading Alma 14 which is about Alma and Amulek witnessing the persecution of their followers.  The women and children who believed in their words are being thrown into the fire.  Amulek turns to Alma and asks, shouldn't we use the power of God to save them?  Alma answers in verse 11 by saying "The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day."  This answered my question so directly.  I could not have asked for a better answer.

I know that the Lord truly answers all of our prayers, no matter how ridiculous (is that the right word to use?) they may seem to us.  God loves us and he wants to help us; therefore, he is willing to answer any questions we have, whether they are small or big conflicts.  It is such a blessing to know that my Heavenly Father will answer any of my prayers.  I am so grateful.

Want to know something even cooler?  Well, in my patriarchal blessing it says that if I have any questions regarding the gospel, I should turn to the scriptures.  I haven't had any huge questions about the gospel until now....and this is a perfect illustration of the fulfillment of some of the words said in my patriarchal blessing; I had a question about the gospel, and I found my answer in the scriptures.  How awesome!!