M. F. Cowley's Prompting to Meet Joseph Standing
Published October 5, 2026 at 5:47 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
While in Chattanooga, M. F. Cowley felt a repeated, strong spiritual impression to wait at the train depot every day. One day, when he was about to leave, he felt a powerful impression to remain. The train arrived and he encountered Joseph Standing, whom he had not known was traveling that way.
In Their Own Words
“While in Chattanooga, I felt a strong impression to go to the depot. I went, but saw no one I knew. I felt the same impression the next day, and the next, and so on for about a week. I would go to the depot, wait for the train to arrive, watch the passengers get off, and then return to my room, feeling somewhat foolish for having gone. After continuing this about one week, while at the depot one day I turned to leave, thinking that perhaps it was only my notion that led me there day after day, but as I was about to leave the car shelter a strong impression came over me to remain, which I did. The train soon arrived, and as the passengers were alighting, I saw Brother Joseph Standing at my side. I had not known he was coming to that part of the country, nor had I heard from him for some time. I was very glad to see him, and the impression I received to wait for the train I look upon as being from the Lord.”
— M. F. Cowley, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 43, No. 25
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 20 June 1881 (Vol. 43, No. 25). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1881-06-20_43_25 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 20 June 1881, Vol. 43, No. 25, p. 395 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1881-06-20_43_25
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