The Holy Ghost

"There is a lesson in the Prophet Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision which virtually every Latter-day Saint has had occasion to experience, or one day soon will. It is the plain and very sobering truth that before great moments, certainly before great spiritual moments, there can come adversity, opposition, and darkness. Life has some of those moments for us, and occasionally they come just as we are approaching an important decision or a significant step in our lives. . . Beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted in it, it is right now."
“Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence” by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

How profound! I think it is all too easy to receive a thought or impression and later (even moments later) dismiss it. It is so important that we do whatever is necessary to act upon promptings and impressions from the Spirit. I have had a few very impressionable experiences with the Spirit throughout my life which have helped create a spirit of obedience. One that currently stands out in my memory happened while I was a missionary. My companion and I were preparing for the next day. We had prayed to know where we should be so that we might be where the Lord needed us, his servants. As we discussing the streets in our area, I had a distinct impression not to be in a certain area, at a certain time. The impression was quite strong but could have been easily dismissed as an unrealistic thought. I told my companion of the impression and that we couldn't not go to that area. The next evening we spoke with a friend who lived in the area I had felt impressed to not enter. At the exact time that the Spirit told me we shouldn't not be there, there was an attempted kidnapping at gunpoint of an adult woman. There was no doubt that the Lord had protected us and I knew that if I had dismissed the prompting as my own crazy thought that our lives would have been in jeopardy! I was so grateful that I had listened to the prompting from the Holy Ghost! I learned to seek the Lord's guidance more in my life and realized how easy it is to dismiss promptings of the Spirit! Heavenly Father knows what He is doing! He tries to guide us in all important decisions in our lives!