“Faith Crisis: What Do We Do When We Feel Nothing?”
I am like any other person and have periods of my life in which I have missed the guidance of the Spirit in my life and that my prayers seemingly go unanswered, and I have questioned myself and God. Those periods are dark parts of my life and I have really struggled during those periods.
Even now I continue to pray for something that I’ve been praying about for the last 17 years. It gets frustrating at times and I turn from asking to pleading with the Lord to answer my prayers.
During those times my confidence in myself takes a major hit.
Surely my Heavenly Father could help me with my request. I’ve strived to live the commandments I’ve been able to be guided by the Spirit in other matters of my life and others have been guided to help me, but I still haven’t received the one answer to my ongoing prayer.
This video about Michael McLean’s experience with the Spirit hit close to home and has helped me understand those times in which I simply didn’t see the Lord’s hand in my life.
I also learned from an S. Michael Wilcox talk that perhaps there isn’t a place in my heart to receive an answer.
All we can do is continue in faith believing that the Lord is there and very aware of us and will bless us according to His plan and timing.
As a result of this knowledge and my constant prayer request, I have begun acting in faith (and some continued frustration) toward what I believe I need to be to receive that much-desired blessing and I have faith that I will receive the answer when I’m finally ready.
If you think you are like Michael McLean and haven’t learned all of the ways the Spirit speaks to you, I would recommend you watch all of the Hear Him videos to gain more perspective on the matter.
Gary E. Stevenson,
Gerrit W. Gong
Joy D. Jones
Quentin L. Cook
Henry B. Erying
Camille N. Johnson
David A. Bednar
M. Russell Ballard
Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Dale G. Renlund
Jeffrey R. Holland
Dallin H. Oaks
Bonnie Cordon
Ulisses Soares
Neil L. Andersen
Jean B. Bingham
Ronald A. Rasband
D. Todd Christopherson
Image Credit: Screenshot from video