Great is thy faith

This week we learned about some of Jesus' "more difficult" miracles. One of these is found in Matthew 15:22-28. It goes as follows:
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

I admit, when I've read this before, I kind of wondered why Jesus seemed so harsh and uncaring. But, when we broke it down and studied it it made a lot more sense. 

In this story the woman asks Jesus three times for Him to help her daughter. His three responses are:

Silence

No

Yes

Brother Griffin pointed out that this is a pattern we experience in our lives daily as we pray. Sometimes silence is our answer. Sometimes we have to realize the timing is wrong. And sometimes, the answer is an absolute yes. How many times do we endure and remain faithful, seeking God's will when we pray? When we really want an answer we have to be patient, push past our doubts, and act on the answers we receive. Richard G Scott says "communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter. It is a sacred privilege. It is based upon unchanging principles. When we receive help from our Father in Heaven, it is in response to faith, obedience, and the proper use of agency."

This miracle is an example of Christ's faith in our ability to press forward and an example of someone that endured through doubt and discouragement and got the answer she needed. It is something we can apply to our prayers to strengthen our faith in Christ.