I believe in prophets, meaning I believe people can be divinely inspired. And, I believe I am the primary prophet for my life; I have a direct line to 'God' and divine influence; nothing, and no one, is supposed to replace that direct line. I believe that the general authorities are prophets, with a special calling--that is to focus their time and energy, pondering many important matters and questions of mortality, and then presenting their ideas to others.
I believe the purposes of a priesthood blessing, prayer, listening to General Conference, attending the temple, etc...are actually united; they are to bring to our minds, things and ideas and questions we may not have considered previously. If we listen closely, we may hear or read about an idea that we should be pondering in our lives at that moment, but maybe something we hadn't thought of, due to our foci being elsewhere. These things--prophets, scriptures, blessings, etc...--are all sources of ideas and inspiration. However, they are NOT the answers, in and of themselves.
To put it as simply as I can, prophets DON'T have the answers; rather, they have the questions, and then it's each of our responsibilities to consider those questions, and then present them to God, always seeking his influence on our hearts and souls.
This idea that the prophets don't have the answers, and aren't there to give us the answers was a bit of an epiphany for me. But it sure makes sense, and rings true to life, in my experience.
