Stones, Serpents, and Chocolate Cake

As a missionary there are often themes that occur every week. These themes range from good to bad to neutral. Whether its slammed doors, prophets, or pumpkin pie you can bet that pert near every week will have a common thread. One week in particular it happened to be a theme of chocolate cake. I for one have no complaints with that being the case because there is nothing I love more than chocolate cake. I especially love to eat it for breakfast. There is no better way to start your day than with two slices of moist, delicious, chocolate cake.
Well, to summarize what my first companion told other sisters about me, "I can put it away". I don't know what it is but some days I can just eat and eat and eat and my stomach just never seems to get full. One night after a good hard days work we sat down and ate one of the most delicious meals of my mission. I was starving and it was divine to be able to eat. Once I finished my first plate I noticed that no one else was taking seconds. I was still hungry but I didn't want to treat the nice dinner like the Golden Coral, especially if no one else was going to eat a second helping. Staring at all the food was maddening, but it was nothing compared to what came next. Desert came out and it was one of those nice big pans of boxed cake mix with chocolate frosting. We were each served a nice sized piece and I must admit I sort of zoned in on that piece of cake. Before I knew it my plate was clean and I looked up and saw that everyone else was just eating their second or third bite. Not only did I feel "piggish" as my great-grandmother would say, I now had a lot of free time to look over at the rest of the cake. I'll admit I may have offered up the desires of my heart (or stomach really) to my Heavenly Father "please let them offer to let us take some home, after all, its a big cake and there are only two of them". As soon as I finished I heard the member ask "Would you Sisters like to take some home? After all, it is a big cake, and there are only two of us". I was grinning ear to ear, but I told my self to wait three seconds to respond, after all, I didn't want my answer to be "YES I WOULD LOVE SOME!" I needed to calm down enough to say "yes please, thank you very much". But, alas, my pause cost me dearly for my companion piped in "no, we have plenty of sweets back home, but thank you for the offer". I was crushed.
The second we got out of there I told my companion, "never, ever, under any circumstance, no matter what we have at home, no matter how full we are, no matter who offers, just no matter what, never, ever, ever, turn down chocolate cake. Ever." Needless to say we laughed about it and moved on. But, the good part is, that the very next day we had another great dinner appointment. At the end the members announced that there was desert, and not just any desert, but a chocolate cake that was made from scratch from a recipe that she got from a bakery that paid 2000$ for it. She added that she purposely made tons extra and that we HAD to take some home with us. My prayer had been answered!
Often times we go through life thinking we need something, and that we need it now. I for one have often told Heavenly Father about what I think He needs to send my way. It is then that the Spirit nudges me to remember Matthew 7:7-11:

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?"
I know that because God is our loving Heavenly Father that He knows us far better than we know ourselves. He also loves us far more than to just hand over exactly what we think we need right when we ask for it. Here as earthly parents we strive to love our children enough not to give them exactly what they ask for every time they ask for something. We do this because we have a broader perspective then they do and we know what they actually need is far better than what they ask for sometimes. Heavenly Father works the same way. He has the big perspective and He knows that just around the corner is a homemade from scratch cake and that if I give up the box cake today, He can give me the homemade one tomorrow. He is a perfect father and He knows "how to give good gifts to his children" far better than we do. I know that because of this our prayers will never go unanswered, even if they are answered differently or later than we wanted. I also know that this is evidence that our Father loves us enough to answer our prayers perfectly rather than how we want them to be answered. Often times it means giving up the box cake, but this allows God to step in with the homemade one-we just have to be patient enough to receive it.
For my companion's version of this story click here
For my sister's thoughts on Matthew 7:7-11 click here