Continuing from a previous post: “You Can Have Anything You Ask For”:
The next morning, true to his word, the father called the family together for family prayer. He called upon Beth to give the prayer because she was the only one in the family that was active. Beth gave the prayer every morning for the first week. After about a week, the mother said that she would be willing to take a turn and lead the family in prayer. Beth’s older sister was the next family member to decide that she could take her turn praying. Then her two little brothers began to pray.
After about a month, as the family knelt for prayer one morning, there was a pause for a moment and then the father said, “I guess it’s about my turn to pray.” Beth said as her father began to pray, tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She felt that she was hearing the most humble and beautiful prayer that had ever been expressed by the lips of a mortal man. It was wonderful! It was the first time she had ever heard her father pray, and the spiritual effect it had upon the whole family was overwhelming. When the prayer was over the whole family came together in one big hug of emotion and wept in gratitude for the great blessing that had come into their home.
Beth then told the class that yesterday had been her seventeenth birthday. She said she had received the most beautiful gift that any mortal could ever receive. Her family had gotten up early and driven fifty miles to the Salt Lake Temple. She had then been ushered into the most beautiful room she had ever been in and knelt at a holy altar there with her family. As Beth, her brothers and sisters, and parents held hands across a holy alter, they took an important step in becoming an eternal family. By this time all of the students, along with Beth and the teacher, were in tears as they shared together the sweet spirit of the Lord.
Beth was so grateful for a primary teacher who had taught her the importance of prayer. She had learned that some prayers may be answered the same day but that some prayers may take six years or more before they are answered. She had also learned the important roles that faith and persistence play in successful prayers. She was so grateful that she had not asked for a car or for some other material gift but had received the help and prompting of the Holy Ghost that important morning around the breakfast table. ~Allan K. Burgess & Max H. Molgard, Stories that Teach Gospel Principles, (Bookcraft, Salt Lake City) 1989) 67-69
