How to Make Important Life Decisions (Personal Revelation)

I was invited to go to a little devotional in my neighborhood tonight with women of different faiths on the topic of "How God Gives Us Strength."  Everyone is invited to share a scripture, story, or thought, or just come and listen.  I've been thinking about it this afternoon, and I kept thinking about personal revelation -- we believe that everyone can pray to Heavenly Father and receive answers for themselves and for their family.  The fact that I have a way to know God's will for me is strengthening and gives me hope.  And I just remembered that a few months ago I had the idea to type up Doctrine & Covenants 9:7-9, a scripture that explains how to go through the process of asking for answers to prayer, and understanding the answers we receive.  I was typing up the scripture and a simple explanation as a visual for my kids.  So I thought maybe I'd just take that and share it at the devotional tonight.

I was a teenager when I learned about this process of praying for answers to important decisions in my life, and it has really helped me over the years.  I have used this when making decisions about which college to attend, whether or not to marry my husband, when was the right time to have children, where we should move, whether or not to accept jobs, whether to buy a certain house or not, etc.  Instead of just praying for Heavenly Father to automatically solve my problems for me, I put some thought into the decision that I think would be best.  And for big life decisions I may also attend the temple and fast.  And in decisions that my husband and I were making together, we would both go through this process individually, coming to our own conclusions, and then council together.  Once I thought I knew what the right answer was, I would pray and let Heavenly Father know what I had been thinking about, and ask Him if that was His will for me.  And in recent years I've learned even more the importance of being willing to follow His will for me, even if it's not what I would have chosen on my own, and knowing it will be best for me.

A few years ago, I was thinking back on these big decisions in my life, and I briefly wondered about the fact that many of the answers I had received were confirmations that the decision I had pondered out was the correct decision for me.  I started to think back, and then remembered when we moved to San Diego we were considering making an offer on a house -- it seemed like a good price and we were eager to move into a home at that time.  I saw the house and thought it was great, and Michael was willing to go for it too.  But we each took time to consider the decision and go to the Lord with it, and we both came to our own conclusion that it wasn't the right move for us.  And I couldn't think of any reason why it wasn't the right house, just a lack of excitement and desire to make the offer.  And now, as I look back on that decision, I recognize that it was an answer to my prayer in the form of a "stupor of thought," as the scripture put it, letting me know that it wasn't the right decision for our family at that time.  (And looking back now, I can clearly see that that house wasn't nearly as good for our family as the house that we did end up making an offer on and moving into a few months later).