AREA WOMAN CONCERNED ABOUT ANSWERS TO PRAYERS

ROCHESTER, NY—Jen Webster of the Rochester 3^rd Ward has become increasingly concerned about the answers she seems to be getting to her prayers.

Sister Webster first became concerned about this nearly two years ago.  At that point she was praying many times a day to know if it was a good time to add one more child to their family of four.  Jen reported that “one day, as I was praying about this, I felt a sudden peace and into my mind I saw, with utter clarity, a turnip.” She continued, “I searched the scriptures for some sort of symbolism or meaning, but I didn’t find anything.”  When she consulted her husband about it, the only insight he could offer was “maybe turnips are a pregnancy craving or maybe we both need to repent and ‘turn-up’ toward God.”  Sister Webster found neither suggestion insightful.

 

Odd answers to prayers did not stop with this one.  On another occasion, Jen thought out a problem, took her plan to the Lord, and then felt what she described as a very distinct “burning in the big toe.”  She elaborated that “this seemed to happen every time I thought about this problem.  One day I concluded that I should not follow through with my plan,” continued Webster, “since the burning was in my left big toe, and the Lord has told us to choose the right.”  Webster concluded that this was a reliable solution, until the next day, when the burning moved to the right big toe.

 

These have not been the only incidents of ambiguous answers to prayers.  When she asked the Lord for inspiration on her talk dealing with tithing, the only clear impression she received was the word “Finland.”  When she prayed about how she might help her 2^nd grade son who was struggling with reading, she had these words flash in her mind: “The value lies not within any particular thing, but in the desire placed on that thing.”  Commenting on that answer, Sister Webster said, “not only do I have no idea what that means, but that sounds like something out of a fortune cookie.”

When asked what she might do about this situation, Sister Webster said, “well, the obvious answer would be to pray about it, and, of course, when I did, the only answer I got was ‘Abraham Lincoln’.”