Don’t Bother Praying About Whom You Should Marry1
source: Mormon Mentality November 09, 2009
In a 1973 BYU Devotional address, Elder Bruce McConkie shared how he decided whom to marry:
How do you choose a wife? I’ve heard a lot of young people from Brigham Young University and elsewhere say, “I’ve got to get a feeling of inspiration. I’ve got to get some revelation. I’ve got to fast and pray and get the Lord to manifest to me whom I should marry.” Well, maybe it will be a little shock to you, but never in my life did I ever ask the Lord whom I ought to marry. It never occurred to me to ask him. I went out and found the girl I wanted; she suited me; I evaluated and weighed the proposition, and it just seemed a hundred percent to me as though this ought to be.
He points out that it would have been good to counsel with the Lord after he had made his decision, but admits that he didn’t do so. Deciding who to marry is easily one of the most important decisions a person will ever have to make, so on one hand, Elder McConkie is right that it’s somewhat shocking that it never occurred to him to ask God during the process.
Read the rest of this story at mormonmentality.org
theshiz said...
12:46 PM
on Dec 04, 2009
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That same man had this also to say: “Use both agency and prayer. It is not, never has been, and never will be the design and purpose of the Lord—however much we seek him in prayer— to answer all our problems and concerns without struggle and effort on our part. This mortality is a probationary estate. In it we have our agency. We are being tested to see how we will respond in various situations; how we will decide issues; what course we will pursue while we are here walking, not by sight, but by faith. Hence, we are to solve our own problems and then to counsel with the Lord in prayer and receive a spiritual confirmation that our decisions are correct” (“Why the Lord Ordained Prayer,” Ensign, Jan. 1976, 11). I understand the point that you don't ask God, "Who do I marry?" Instead, you would look for the right mate, study it out in your mind, make a decision, then go to the Lord with that decision, as you would with any other choice in life.
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