In the case of Alma awakening from his coma we have two perspectives. We know the faith of his father and the priests who were fasting for him and praying that he would receive his strength. They represent the seen side of prayer. In this particular case we also have an account from Alma of what he experienced while in his coma. That represents the unseen side of prayer.
The prophet and the priests of the church desired that Alma would recover and their prayers were heard but their prayers didn’t force anything on Alma. While he was in a state of wanting to no longer exist he was left in his unresponsive condition. Independent or somewhat independent of their prayers Alma had a spiritual awakening where he chose to call out for redemption. Up until that point if he had begun to wake up physically I’m confident that he would have fought to stay unconscious since that was at least a little bit like dealing to exist as he desired then.
Whatever we pray for, especially if it impacts the agency of someone else, will have components that we can’t see which will shape the manner and timing of that prayer being answered. God will always act to allow individuals to make their own choices with respect to aligning themselves with the plan of salvation.
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