Proportional Elephants

My companion and I were trying to draw an elephant on a sticky note. We had a couple of images of elephants that we were trying to use as something to go off of but it wasn't working very well. I'm no artist. We were struggling to get the proportions right so that it would actually look like a presentable little elephant.

Finally my companion threw in the towel and said, "You do it." Aaah! So I thought for a couple of minutes about elephants. I looked at the three images that we had and went back to the drawing board. There was nothing wrong with the elephant that we had but I wanted this little drawing to look more like an actual elephant instead of a caricature. Some things needed to be changed.
I took the penciled image that we already had and began drawing a new elephant on top of it. Suddenly I had an epiphany! Inspiration! The drawing came together and looked like a beautiful little elephant!

Now, I don't know how to draw elephants. What helped this little elephant to change was the fact that I was suddenly asking , "How can I make this elephant look correct?" instead of saying, "This elephant looks awful!" Instead of saying, "I know something needs to be changed," I asked, "What looks weird about the elephant and what would make it look normal and more proportional?"

Oftentimes, we recognize that something about our life needs to change. We need to be more patient, more loving, more gentle, more Christlike in general, yet we are not quite sure how to go about it. We want to make our lives more in accordance with the standards the Lord has set. Yet we are making statements. We say, "I need to be more -," rather than asking the Lord how we can fix the problems and situations that we are facing. We try all the normal things: pray for patience, ask for suggestions from family members and friends, read and study the scriptures. There are things that are often overlooked and questions that are often not asked, however, that can help us to become the person that God needs us to be.
God needs us to be specific in our prayers and our desires. If we desire and even expect direct and specific answers, we must be willing to ask specific questions.
When I told my mom over and over again that I was bored during a car ride, she didn't have many answers or solutions to give me. However, when I changed my statement to the question, "What can I do until we get there?" she was much more inclined to give me varied and specific answers. Questions lead to answers.

Our Heavenly Father is much the same way.

When we seek His guidance and direction, we need to ask Him specific questions and He will then give us specific answers and help. As we seek His help in overcoming weaknesses and fears, we can ask what He needs us to do in order to strengthen our weaknesses. We can ask Him to do things to help us. We can ask Him to help us feel peace and comfort in order to know something is true or in order to know that He loves us. When we ask Him clear and direct questions, He can then bless us with answers and guidance and personal revelation and inspiration through the Holy Spirit.
Ask Him for help. He loves each of us more than anyone else loves us and because of that, He is willing to do more than anyone else to help us.