Boy this past week has been full of surprises! I cannot begin to fully understand everything that has happened and yet I am very thankful for the promptings of the spirit and the love that I have felt for me and others in my life.
I have always known that the Lord knows me. Sometimes I think He probably wishes He didn't... but He never leaves me alone. This past week, including today I learned that the Lord knows each of us by name, He loves us, He wants us to be happy, to make good choices and be good examples wherever we go and whomever we associate with.
I know these things more today, than any other day in my life. You see I believe in the promptings of the spirit, I always have, and yet this week for whatever reason I have seen first hand the Lord's loving spirit speaking straight to my heart through the leaders of our church.
I will not share my experience today or the other experiences I have been blessed with this week for they are sacred to me and to the people I love and care for. I want you to know however that the Savior know us, I mean really knows us each one individually. My patriartical blessing reassures me that personal revelation will come to me at a time when I can be of service to someone who needs a tender heart to listen. I have always wondered when that time would come, I believe in certain places it already has, but I also know that today more than ever I need to follow the promptings of the spirit. I know that if we follow those feelings the Lord will make our hearts instruments in His hands.
Here is part of a talk I heard today, I would like to share it with you.....
To learn the Spirit of God, we must learn to listen with our hearts. President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said: “The Spirit is a still, small voice—a voice that is felt rather than heard. It is a spiritual voice that comes into the mind as a thought put into your heart.” 4
President Packer also taught: “Inspiration comes more easily in peaceful settings. Such words as quiet, still, peaceable, Comforter abound in the scriptures: ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ (Ps. 46:10; italics added.) And the promise, ‘You shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom.’ (D&C 36:2; italics added).”
President Packer added: “While we may invite this communication, it can never be forced! If we try to force it, we may be deceived.” 5
Of utmost importance in our schooling process is our responsibility to act, without delay, in accordance with the spiritual promptings we receive. President Thomas S. Monson stated: “We watch. We wait. We listen for that still, small voice. When it speaks, wise men and women obey. Promptings of the Spirit are not to be postponed.” 6
Learning to hear and understand the Spirit is a gradual and continuous process. The Savior said, “He that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day” (D&C 50:24). “For unto him that receiveth I will give more” (2 Nephi 28:30).
Just as Christ “received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace” (D&C 93:12), so also, as we keep His commandments, we will “receive grace for grace” (D&C 93:20; see also John 1:16) and “line upon line, precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30). Our schooling process is often as gradual as the descent of the dews from heaven (see D&C 121:45; 128:19).
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught that “there is no simple formula or technique that would immediately allow [us] to master the ability to be guided by the voice of the Spirit.” Rather, “our Father expects [us] to learn how to obtain that divine help by exercising faith in Him and His Holy Son, Jesus Christ.”
Elder Scott continued: “What may appear initially to be a daunting task will be much easier to manage over time as you consistently strive to recognize and follow feelings prompted by the Spirit. Your confidence in the direction you receive from the Holy Ghost will also become stronger,” and “your confidence in the impressions you feel can become more certain than your dependence on what you see or hear.” 7
As part of our schooling process, the Lord will help us to see the results, in our own life and in the lives of others, of our acting upon the promptings we receive from the Spirit. These experiences will strengthen our faith and give us greater courage to act in the future.
Learning to hear and understand the Spirit takes considerable effort. But the Lord has promised that the faithful will “receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that [they may] know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal” (D&C 42:61).
I made a promise today, and I will follow through, I trust the Lord, I trust the leaders of our church and I am thankful beyond words for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our lives. I need to "act" and not postpone the promptings of the spirit that President Monson talks about.
Does this mean it will be easy, I don't think so..... Does it mean I will have the opportunity to grow and help another person...yes it does! Does it mean I know exactly what to say or do....nope! but, I will follow the spirit. I am thankful for sacred and beautiful promises that the Lord will give to each of us if we open our hearts and listen.......
I hope you all have a great Sunday and fun holiday! Let's talk soon!
Love,
Karley
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