Assistant-Editor's Answered Prayer for Writing Inspiration

“How well I remember an experience of my own, here in the city of Liverpool, while filling the position of assistant-editor of this magazine, something less than forty years ago. I was struggling to produce an article which had to be ready for the printer at a certain time, lest publication be delayed and others put to more or less inconvenience. But I found myself, for some reason, in a mood the very opposite of the mental condition required for the task in hand. My thoughts would not come, my language would not flow. Do what I might, I could not compose anything satisfactory, and after wasting most of the day in a fruitless attempt to write the article, I threw down my pen in disgust, and burst into tears of vexation. At that moment I heard, or seemed to hear, a voice—not an audible voice, one heard by the outward ear, but a voice within, a spirit voice, which said: "Why don't you pray?" I answered almost angrily: "I do pray" (I was then praying several times a day, twice with the household in the prayer room, and twice, at least, in my own room, secretly). I felt half indignant at being asked why I didn't pray. Smothering my resentment, I responded: "I do pray—why can't I get a little help?" Again the Spirit spoke to me, calmly and gently, as before: "Why don't you pray over this particular matter?" I saw the point at once. I had been praying for everything in general, but I had not asked the Lord to help me write that article. Down on my knees I went, and put up a humble and earnest petition to the Most High. I did not pray for the return of the Ten Tribes, nor for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. I did not pray for the redemption of Zion and the gathering of the saints to Jackson County. I simply said: "O God, give me the power to write this article, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen." I arose and went to work, and oh! what a joy to find my pen speeding over the paper, and my thoughts coming faster than I could write them, every thought in order, every word in place. Within an incredibly short time I had finished the writing and submitted it to the editor, who neither dotted an "i" nor crossed a "t," pronouncing it "just the thing." As, indeed, it was; for the Lord had done it, and all his works are perfect. — Millennial Star 83:34”