Following the Promptings of the Spirit

“And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.” -D&C 11:12

“Running the full length of the corridor on the fourth floor of the hospital, the young bishop saw a flurry of activity outside the designated room. A nurse stopped him and said, ‘Are you Bishop Monson?’

‘Yes,’ was the anxious reply.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘The patient was calling your name just before he passed away.’

Fighting back the tears, Thomas S. Monson turned and walked back into the night. He vowed then and there that he would never again fail to act upon a prompting from the Lord. He would acknowledge the impressions of the Spirit when they came, and he would follow wherever they led him, ever to be ‘on the Lord’s errand.’” -Jeffrey R. Holland, “President Thomas S. Monson: Man of Action, Man of Faith, Always “on the Lord’s Errand”, 1986

Today I received a spiritual prompting and didn't follow it. I knew I should have followed it, I knew that Heavenly Father knew better than I did, yet, I still ignored it. I was stubborn. I didn't want to do things His way because I didn't understand why I was receiving the prompting I was. I liked the way I wanted to do things. So I did them that way.

Six hours later I feel like a fool. In that short six hours I have come to understand things and see things as Heavenly Father knew they were. Like President Monson in this story, I regret the choice I made to rebel against the prompting He sent me.

Luckily, unlike President Monson, my choice wasn't so drastically hurtful. But really, when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter how big or small of a thing the Spirit was telling me to do; what matters is that I chose not to follow Him.

Today, right now, I am resolving to do as President Monson resolved to do decades ago: I want to never ignore a spiritual prompting. No matter how hard, no matter how confusing, I want the Lord to be able to count on me as someone who will follow His instructions. I want Him to know that if He needs something done that He can trust me to do it. Doing this is going to be really hard, but it's worth it because it's a way for me to show Heavenly Father that I love and trust Him.

The best part of this all is that if I mess up, He has the patience to forgive me and let me try again. I love the gospel. It's just awesome.