Sometimes we don't recognize answers to prayer because we focus so much on our own desires. We don't see that the Lord wants us to do something else—for example, sometimes you may want to act when the answer is to wait. Sometimes, He may want us to step outside our comfort zone, and that may take courage. But remember, when we seek the will of the Lord, we must be willing to be obedient—we must be humble and ask Him to write His will upon our hearts. It is then that the answer from a loving Heavenly Father can be spoken to the mind by the still, small voice.
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, says he has learned that "answers [to my prayers] were most clear when what I wanted was silenced by an overpowering need to know what God wanted" ("Write upon My Heart," Ensign, Nov. 2000, 86).