Learning to see the flashing neon lights that I've asking for.

Quite often I find myself complaining to others and most frequently to God that He just doesn't communicate with me very well....(note the arrogance in that statement) I constantly pray for some kind of sign that will show me what I'm supposed to do in any given situation, yet I never find one. Consequently I "lean upon my own understanding" and almost always epic fail at whatever it is I was doing. Usually my prayers sound a little something like this: "Dear God, PLEASE just tell me what you want me to do. But don't tell me with subtle hints and discretion but instead use flashing neon lights and signs. Wack me in the face with the answer. Amen." Now you may imagine how well that has been working out for me. But what I've noticed in the past few days is that God is always faithful, and He answers prayer. Conversely, I am not always faithful and I do not always want to hear His answer. You see, what I have been doing is looking right past the neon lights in front of me and searching behind those for the ones I wanted to see. And whats more is that when I pray that prayer, what I'm really saying is "Dear God, PLEASE just tell me what I want to hear. But don't tell me with subtle hints and discretion but instead use flashing neon lights and signs. Wack me in the face with the go ahead to do what I want. Amen." So thankfully for once the lights caught my eye and I got the message, and hopefully that's a lesson learned.