Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hey everybody, I thought I was a little late, but it turns out I was an hour early! (Yeah, I guess I still haven't fully recovered from the effects of daylight savings. @_@)

Today's discussion will be on prayer. To start things off, are there any notable experiences with answered prayers anyone would like to share?

I had an amazing answer to my prayers just over the past few days. My dad talked to me on Saturday about serving a mission, and I decided that, if it was the Lord's will, I'd do it. I began to seriously think about it, and had pretty much resigned myself to it, but for some reason I was having reservations. Something about it just didn't ring right. I got an empty, kind of sick feeling whenever I thought about it. But I just didn't know what else to do. I felt like a mission was my only option. All through Sunday and Monday I struggled with these feelings of unease, and finally, Monday night, I finally broke down and had a long, tearful talk with my Heavenly Father, expressing everything I was feeling. It was a really good, soul-searching prayer.

After I was done, I felt really refreshed. I hadn't had any outstanding spiritual experience, but just being able to get it off my chest felt great. Afterward, I was doing some thinking, and I was inspired to think of BYU Hawaii. I was almost shocked to realize that this was the answer I had been looking for this whole time, ever since I decided last year that I wanted to go back to school. As I continued to think about it, I realized that everything in my life seemed to point to going there--my good grades in high school, my recurring dreams about being at the beach, my sinuses' aversion to dry climates--finally, it seemed like all of the pieces were falling into place, and it occurred to me that perhaps this was what the Lord wanted for me--and what I wanted for myself, as well.

I'm going to start the application process as soon as I can, and I really hope I can get in, because I have a really, really good feeling about it.

So does anyone have any experiences like that they want to share?

Great to see you here!

Don't worry, I forget things too. sweatdrop

So, what are some ways you've found to get more effective answers to your prayers? Sometimes, you just need to stop and listen during and after your prayers. After all, it's supposed to be a conversation, and Heavenly Father can't get any information through if you're doing all the talking.

Sorry I left so suddenly, I will try to be here Sunday!