A branch that won't break

That is what a friend of Troy's told him today. I don't know the friends name and it doesn't matter since Troy isn't really called Troy either. Troy is no longer a new believer, and it is encouraging to hear him tell about how people come closer to God because of him.
Today's friend asked Troy to pray for him. When Troy asked what for and heard that it was that a childhood sweetheart would divorce her husband so that the friend could marry her he said he couldn't.
Troy has obviously learned a very important lesson about God. While God is faithful and hears our prayers, he won't give us all the things we ask for; especially not when getting them would break His own commandments.
The friend was shocked - he wanted it so - and how could Troy know that that was not going to be within God's plan.
That was the question Troy had for me; but he ventured to tell me his own story of a dream about two broken branches in a tree that he was climbing. The dream which had repeated itself ended with a third that held his weight and arrested his fall.
The first branch was when Troy had tried to save his family by looking for a job in the capital and returned more broke than when he left. The second was when he came back home and after a few weeks was arrested for fourteen hours because some police officer needed to arrest someone and found him handy.
He told of the peace he had felt as he remembered his dream and knew that the next branch would hold.
When, after this his pastor told Troy that God must love him when he let him go through so much trouble, he knew that he wanted to be baptised.
Some time has passed since then and the question is now; how does Troy and the rest of us know when to get of the branch we are sitting on?