Words cannot express the overwhelming feeling of love and joy that I felt at that moment. My God not only heard my humble, little prayer, but He loves me enough to delay the revelation until His answer would have the most impact. God knew that experience would come, and He knew that waiting would not only answer my question but would also give me a powerful spiritual experience.
Many years ago, I visited my bishop at his home because of some difficulties I was having in my calling. My bishop provided some wise counsel and then felt to give me a priesthood blessing to help me through the trial. As I was leaving, almost as an afterthought, he said “You know, in the Celestial Kingdom there is no contention; and that is where you are striving to be”.
I said thank you and went on my way. As the days went by, I thought about that statement over and over. How could that be? How could there be no contention? There is contention in our stake, in our ward and in our families. There is even some contention in the best of marriages. How could there be no contention? After some time, I decided to take the question to my Father in Heaven. I found a quiet place in the desert, knelt down and presented my question in a humble, vocal prayer. And then I quietly listened. No answer came. I repeated this process for many days and still no answer came. I studied about prayer and receiving revelation and tried to pray in a manner that would please my Father in Heaven so he would answer . . . and still no answer came.
As time went by, my daily prayer turned to weekly, and then monthly. Still no answer came. As the days and months turned into years, I not only ceased to ask the question, I eventually forgot about my question altogether. I had decided this was a question that would not be answered and gave up trying. I continued to be faithful and to grow in my testimony and conversion. I kept the commandments as best I could (repenting often) and served to the best of my ability. Other prayers were answered, just not this one.
Eleven years had passed by since I offered that first sincere and humble prayer, and my father, JD, became ill and died. The responsibility to organize the funeral and make the arrangements for burial fell upon my brothers and me. While growing up and into adulthood my brothers and I had much contention and fought often. Our holidays and family get-togethers more often than not resulted in arguing and fighting. We love each other, but each of us has strong opinions and are sure we are right. I remember my mother, Georgia, often crying because there was so much contention at these family events.
As my father passed away and the thought of this contention settled on my mind, I envisioned a very chaotic funeral with my mother sitting there with her head in her hands sobbing. I offered up a prayer and pleaded with my Father in Heaven that this would not happen; that somehow, we would have a funeral that was organized and that honored my father and pleased my mother.
When the time came, my brothers and I spent an entire week together, rarely separated, working to organize the funeral and prepare for the burial. To my amazement, there was no fighting, no contention, not even a cross word. It was truly a miracle! We approached each decision that was to be made in the context of “What would dad want?” We all knew and loved our dad very much, and we all knew what he would want. When we focused on his wants instead of our own, there was no reason for contention.
The funeral and burial went off without a hitch, my father was honored, my mother was well pleased, and I went to bed that night feeling very sad, but very content. I offered a prayer of gratitude and went to sleep. At 2:11 the next morning I was awakened, and my mind was taken back to my question and my many prayers. A voice came to me, penetrating my heart saying “That is how. When all are seeking the will of the Father.”
Words cannot express the overwhelming feeling of love and joy that I felt at that moment. My God not only heard my humble, little prayer, but He loves me enough to delay the revelation until His answer would have the most impact. God knew that experience would come, and He knew that waiting would not only answer my question but would also give me a powerful spiritual experience.
Submitted by Matthew Purkiss from Flora Vista, NM
July 2021
I LOVE THIS! "When all are seeking the will of the Father there will be no contention." Thank you for sharing your story.