Responding to Promptings

By following the feelings that come to us, we learn to trust that they do come from our Father. We "grow up" (D&C 109:15) in learning to discern this voice.

President Thomas S. Monson has counseled us to never postpone a prompting. "We watch. We wait. We listen for that still, small voice," he said in general conference. "When it speaks, wise men and women obey. We do not postpone following promptings of the Spirit."

President Monson then shared an experience about a friend named Stan, whose illness had left him partially paralyzed. Despite the finest medical care and the prayers of family and friends, Stan remained confined to a bed and began to despair.

"Late one afternoon I was swimming at the Deseret Gym, gazing at the ceiling while backstroking width after width," President Monson recalled. "Silently, but ever so clearly, there came to my mind the thought: 'Here you swim almost effortlessly, while your friend Stan languishes in his hospital bed, unable to move.' I felt the prompting: 'Get to the hospital and give him a blessing.'

"I ceased my swimming, dressed, and hurried to Stan's room at the hospital. His bed was empty. A nurse said he was in his wheelchair at the swimming pool, preparing for therapy. I hurried to the area, and there was Stan, all alone, at the edge of the deeper portion of the pool. We greeted one another and returned to his room, where a priesthood blessing was provided."

Stan eventually regained strength and movement in his legs and learned to walk again. President Monson continued: "To some [Stan] reveals the dark thoughts of depression which engulfed him that afternoon as he sat in his wheelchair at the edge of the pool, sentenced, it seemed, to a life of despair. He tells how he pondered the alternative. It would be so easy to propel the hated wheelchair into the silent water of the deep pool. Life would then be over. But at that precise moment he saw me, his friend. That day Stan learned literally that we do not walk alone. I, too, learned a lesson that day: Never, never, never postpone following a prompting."7

The Lord, in speaking of His Second Coming, emphasized that the gift of the Holy Ghost must be powerfully active among His Saints: "For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day" (D&C 45:57).

We live in a wonderful day of opportunity, learning, and prosperity. But with these wonders come also the degrading deceits of the adversary, trying to push their way into the fabric of our lives, even attempting to burrow into the safe refuge of our homes. If we will receive the Holy Ghost as our guide and be wise in knowing, guarding, and building upon this gift, we will not be deceived. And as evil increases in the world, there will be a compensating power of the gift of the Holy Ghost for the righteous.

As we give greater care to this divine gift, we "shall abide the day" and again live with our Heavenly Father.

The Gift, by Walter Rane, may not be copied

Painting by Walter Rane

Teach Them to Understand, by Walter Rane, courtesy of Church History Museum

Notes

1. See Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff (2004), 49.

2. See Dallin H. Oaks, "Always Have His Spirit," Ensign, Nov. 1996, 59–61.

3. Teachings: Wilford Woodruff, 41, 51.

4. Boyd K. Packer, "Reverence Invites Revelation," Ensign, Nov. 1991, 23.

5. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 98; emphasis added.

6. James E. Faust, "Voice of the Spirit," Liahona and Ensign, June 2006, 6.

7. Thomas S. Monson, "The Spirit Giveth Life," Ensign, May 1985, 68, 70.