Receiving Your Own Revelation
During the COVID-19 pandemic, one ward clerk decided to share weekly spiritual thoughts with the members of his ward since they weren’t able to meet together. This is one letter he shared about his experiences with personal revelation as a young adult.
Dear ward friends,
Last week, the Church’s “new” Liahona magazine arrived. As I began reading it, I noticed that the prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, talked again about the need for personal revelation.1
It reminded me of experiences with personal revelation in my own life. When I was going to Brigham Young University, I fell in love with a young lady named Kathy (name has been changed). We always had so much fun together. She was so smart and pretty. She liked me, but I loved her.
After two years, she was going to graduate and leave. I prayed and asked the Lord if I should ask Kathy to marry me. The answer I received was a powerful yes, and I was so excited. When I asked her, she told me that she would need to pray about it. I knew that she would need her own witness too. But it was an utter shock to me when she informed me that she had prayed and fasted and the answer the Lord gave her was no.
I was devastated, mad, and embarrassed. I was so angry at God. Why had He done this to me? I walked the dark, snow-covered streets talking to Heavenly Father for a long time. Then He spoke: “It was right for you to ask her, and she was right in saying no.”
I felt shocked. If it was yes for me, then it should be yes for her! Or so I thought.
I learned an extremely important lesson: Two different people can receive two different answers to the exact same question. What is right for one person is not always right for another.
It was not until much later that I understood this event and part of the reason for it. After I graduated and returned to my hometown of Houston, Texas, USA, I got a call from Kathy. She had decided to get a master’s degree—in Houston. She even rented an apartment in the same complex that I was living in.
The difference was that I was dating Marjorie at the time. I loved her and knew I wanted to marry her. But I had loved Kathy too. It could have been very difficult and confusing for me to make the decision to ask Marjorie to marry me if I had never acted on those impressions with Kathy years before. My experience that snowy Utah night helped me to not waver or second-guess my decision. And soon after, Marjorie and I were engaged and then married.
Everyone received their own revelation. It was personal and individual. I was given the answer that was right for me, and Kathy was given the right answer for her.
We are each entitled to revelation. Others, such as our spouse, our parents, or those Church leaders under whose stewardship we fall, can also be inspired, but it is our responsibility to confirm all revelation for ourselves.
Years ago, I was working together with someone on a project. I was in graduate school, married with three young children. As the semester came to an end, I told this person that I was thinking that I needed to leave school. A few days later he told me that he had prayed about it and felt that I was to stay in school. He even offered to help me financially. It was a kind offer, but as I prayed about it myself, I felt that what would be best for me and my family was for me to go back to work full-time.
This person became very angry with me because I did not accept the “revelation” he had received for me. What he had offered was just a suggestion, and once I sorted through all my options, I knew it was neither what my family needed nor what the Lord wanted me to do. Heavenly Father knew what was coming. A short time later, Marjorie became ill and needed surgery. We would have been ruined if I had been a student without any health coverage.
Revelation is a very personal thing. It is a wonderful thing. We can all receive it. It needs to come from the Lord, and we need to confirm that it is what He wants for us. As we follow His personal revelations to us, we will be so very blessed. I know that I have been.
Hope you have a great week.
—Mark