Answering Prayers

While reading the story of the Brother of Jared, in the book of Ether, I came to a realization of a pattern that the Lord often uses to answer our prayers. The brother of Jared had built barges to cross the ocean, but he had a few problems. First there was no light, and there was also no air, and how were they going to steer the barges. These 3 problems the Lord answers in three very different ways. In regards to the air, the Lord says make a hole in the top and bottom, and when you need air, just unstop the hole, if water rushes in, plug it back up. In regards the steering, the Lord in essence says that he will take care of that, that they need not worry. Then with the light problem the Lord answers with a question, what would you have me do. I think in life, that this is a model for us to live by. In some instances, when we come to the Lord with a problem He just gives us the answer to our problem, like make a hole in the top and in the bottom. Other times, the Lord says, don't worry about it, I will take care of it just have faith in me. Then other times, he ask us to present our idea to Him. In these cases we have to be much like the brother of Jared and go and molten our rocks our of the mountain, or in other word, put effort into the plan, and then work to bring the plan about, then when we are ready we present our rocks before the Lord and ask him to touch them, having faith that when we do that He will light them up. I believe that all of these ways the Lord answers our prayers promote our faith and help us to grow. I also believe that the Lord chooses the way to answer our prayers in the way that will help us grow the most at that time. The Lord, because he is the perfect parent, knows what will help us the most and is always there to mold us into the best person we can be.