puzzled?

Luke 11:11 - If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

The Lord has promised those who seek will find, those who ask will receive, and those who knock will have the door opened. All the reasonable and straightforward results. Never a stone when we ask for bread; never a serpent when we ask for fish. 

And yet sometimes when we ask to be liberated from our burdens... the "logical" releasing does not follow and instead comes something else.

Mosiah 24:15 - And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

It isn't a stone or a serpent... but it isn't bread of fish either. maybe it's a bowl to make our own bread in or maybe it's even harder to understand the connection and it's, i dunno a pencil or something.

This is when FAITH, trust and confidence in the divine love and omniscience of God, again comes into play.

From Elder Maxwell - C. S. Lewis put it well when he said: “We are bidden to ‘put on Christ,’ to become like God. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want” (The Problem of Pain[1962], 53). Hence it is so vital for us to be submissive because we’ll be puzzled when He gives us what we need in order to become more like Him and the Son, unless we are submissive in mind.

I've been "puzzled" a lot lately. What has gotten me through the confusion (and at times unfortunately, the doubt) has been an overarching belief that nothing that occurs is contrary to God's will; he doesn't turn to look at my life and say "oops! that wasn't what was supposed to happen!" so even when i keep getting pencils i can trust that eventually I'll know what to do with them... and they will bring me closer to Christ. i believe that everything that happens in my life comes with a gift in it's arms to help me learn and grow and come closer to him.

**even the things that sorta seem like they might be serpents - the exactly opposite of what i think i need - never are. they always turn out to be what i absolutely needed (but didn't know i needed haha).