Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than should you obtain treasures of the earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof. (Doctrine & Covenants 19;38)
Beth, a senior student in seminary, approached her teacher one morning and asked if she could bear her testimony to the class. Her teacher was more than happy to let her, so after the devotional Beth got up and told the following story in class.
When Beth was ten years old, she was the only active Church member in her family. One day in Primary her teacher gave a lesson on the power of prayer and told the students that Heavenly Father would answer and grant any prayer if it was right for them and done in faith.
Ten-year-old was so inspired by this lesson that when she got home she immediately went to her room and knelt down by her bed, and began to pray. She said, “Heavenly Father, you know my father is a good man and a good father, but he never goes to church—not even when I have a part on the program. Oh, Heavenly Father, please touch my father’s heart so he will have a desire to go to church so we can become an eternal family.”
Several times every day Beth would kneel down and plead with the Lord that he would touch her father so that he would become active in the church and go to the temple. Beth pleaded with the Lord every day for six years. Sometimes she would break down and cry as she pleaded with her Heavenly Father in behalf of her earthly father.
Three or four days before Beth’s sixteenth birthday, the family was sitting around the breakfast table. Beth’s father asked her what she would like for her birthday. He was a fairly well-to-do building contractor and had purchased Beth’s sister a new car for her sister’s sixteenth birthday just the year before. He told her that she could have anything she wanted and that money was no problem.
Beth was about ready to discuss the prospect of a new car when a voice came into her head and said, “Beth, here is your chance! Here is what you have been hoping for and praying for all of these years!” Beth paused for a few seconds and said, “Dad, there is one thing I would like to have more than anything else in this world, and it won’t cost you a single penny.”
Her father almost fell off his chair and wanted to know what this marvelous thing was that would not cost him anything. Beth said she would not tell him until he promised her that he would give it to her. Her father didn’t feel that that was fair, but she would not tell him what she wanted. Then her mother and her older sister tried to get her to tell what she wanted, but she said she would not until her Dad promised to give it to her. Even her two little brothers said that she was being unfair, but she refused to say what she wanted until her Dad promised.
Seeing that Beth was not going to give in, her father finally said, “All right, I promise!” Beth said, “Dad, the one thing I want more than anything else in this world is that we kneel down every morning as a family and have family prayer.” Her father later said that it was like someone dropped a ton of bricks on him–he just sat there stunned. It was a request he had least expected but knew he must fulfill to maintain his integrity with Beth. ~Allan K. Burgess & Max H. Molgard, “Stories That Teach Gospel Principles” (Salt Lake City, Bookcraft) 67-68 ~continued
