Your Whole Soul

Mosiah 26:

13-14

13: And now the spirit of Alma was again troubled; and he went and inquired of the Lord what he should do concerning this matter, for he feared that he should do wrong in the sight of God.
14: And it came to pass that after he had poured out his whole soul to God, the voice of the Lord came to him...

I frequently am troubled by a million things every day. Am I going to school? where will I work? who will I date? Etc...small problems to big problems we all are troubled sometimes. But I love that Alma doesn't just sit and stew about his problem, he's thought it out and takes the problem to the Lord.
Lesson: The Lord is the answer to all our troubles, big or small

I love that it says that Alma Poured out his whole soul. That is not a memorized prayer. That is not a 2 second prayer. That is a heartfelt conversation. I think my prayers need to be more of an outpouring of my soul rather than a prayer. I am not even sure I know what it feels like to pour out my WHOLE soul. I do know that its work, its effort- we can't just have everything by simply saying please. We must show that we are sincere in our desires. I also love that his answer comes AFTER he has shown this pouring of faith. He hears the voice of the Lord.
Lesson: sincere prayer brings answers

The next few verses in the chapter are Alma's answer. But his answer doesn't come immediately. The Lord tells him other things before he gets to the answer Alma was seeking. The important thing to take away is that Alma keeps listening. I think sometimes we get caught up in what we want to hear that we neglect all the other things we need to hear. The Lord starts to speak and we tune him out because its not the exact answer to the questions we've asked. But if we wait, the Lord will answer us in the best way possible.