In the Way of our Answers

 

Many times when prayers don't seem answered we have truly done all we can do and may have to wait or accept that the path may not be what we had hoped.  But other times we get in the way of our own answers.  

When I was in college a group of friends, much like my own kids now,  would take off on weekend road trips.  (I am also confident that in many cases our collective reasoning ability seemed to decrease as the number of young adults in the vehicle increased).

One weekend four of us were headed from Pullman, WA to Portland, OR for a temple trip.  We laughed and sang and had fun together as we drove. 

An important side note is that the week before I had been driving across campus when another young student driver didn't see my car and turned in front of me.  He was faulted for the accident, neither of us was injured but my car was in the shop and so I was driving my rental on our trip. 

What I didn't realize was that this rental did not have a low fuel warning light like my car did so I didn't get the 50 mile warning.  We just suddenly realized the needle was all the way on empty and we were about 20 miles from the next town.  

My friend LisaAnn, who was so often the wisdom in our friendship, suggested we pray and while I don't remember who offered the prayer I do remember how grateful we were as we safely made it to the next exit and rolled up to the pump.  

Our gratitude was short lived as we realized that these people were very clearly taking advantage of the law of supply and demand with gas at more than double we had paid that morning! One of the guys suggested in outrage that we refuse to contribute to their operation.  The other guy quickly agreed and said that we would surely make it the just 6 miles to the next town.  

LisaAnn said something along the lines of "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! We pray and ask to get here safely and we show gratitude by pushing our luck?" I had a twinge of doubt about the wisdom of it but agreed to take the chance with the guys in an effort to impress them.  So foolish.  There is no way around it.  It was a poor decision on all accounts. 

And so the guys walked three miles to town to get the gas when we ran out.   In the pouring Oregon rain on the side of a busy freeway.  I should have had to as well, but it didn't seem safe to leave LisaAnn so I stayed with her in the car.  No one stopped to help.  We didn't have cell phones then.  And we deserved it.  

Would it have been fair to blame God for not answering that prayer? Of course not.  But too often we fail to stop and admit that we have messed it up without blaming Him or others.  

Sometimes in life we just make foolish decisions.  And we need to own them, correct them and learn from them.  

As L. Aldin Porter put it, "We may choose as we desire, but we may not avoid the consequences of our choices. Think on that. We are permitted to make our choices in life, but we ought not then call the plan unfair because we must accept the results of our choices."

And why on earth didn't we just put a couple dollars worth in and make it to the next town? We were young and didn't think of it.  🤦‍♀️😂