Prayer

James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upabraideth not; and it shall be given him."

We have read and memorized this scripture a million times as members of the LDS church. This passage of scripture is what prompted Joseph Smith to go pray in the Sacred Grove.
We learn about prayer at an early age, as early as we can talk (so long as you grew up in the church).

What I love about prayer is that it is so simple, yet, also so complex.

Praying is easy. It's constructed like a conversation.
A greeting.
A "talk about the good things in my life" segment
A "talk about the hard things in my life" segment
A farewell.

But it's also so much more than that.

We often think that offering a prayer is for God, that He needs to hear from us.
But prayer wasn't designed for God. It was designed so that we could hear from and talk to Him.
He already knows us perfectly. He knows our thoughts, hearts, life, etc. He doesn't need to get to know us.
He gave us the gift of prayer so that we could seek counsel, comfort and strength from Him.

We should feel honored that God has given us a way to talk to Him. He's the ruler of the universe.

But that also shows how much He loves us and that He wants us to succeed.

So if we are praying, we should also expect to hear answers.

A lot of times we expect to hear answers while we are on our knees, and sometimes it does happen this way, but most of the time they don't. A lot of the time answers will come while we are out living our lives. They can come through feelings, thoughts, other people, dreams, etc.
But what if they don't come at all?
This often worries and frustrates a lot of people.

Be grateful for silence. Silence is a sign that He trusts you to make the decision. In a way, it is a vote of confidence for you.
If you are sincere, He's not going to let you go too far down the wrong path when you make a mistake.
The purpose of this life is to grow and  to learn, and that won't happen if He is giving us all the answers on a silver platter.
We'll become spiritual spoiled brats who can't do anything on our own if that's the case.

So be thankful for prayer and be thankful for silence when it does come.

Don't forget to be awesome!