Ronald A. Rasband said,
“We must be confident in our first promptings. Sometimes we rationalize; we wonder if we are feeling a spiritual impression or if it is just our own thoughts. When we begin to second-guess, even third-guess, our feelings-and we all have-we are dismissing the Spirit; we are questioning divine counsel.”
He continued,
“First promptings are pure inspiration from heaven….We need to recognized them for what they are and never let them slip past.”
Are you like me, and desire to do good, but wonder if your thoughts to serve another are truly inspired?
Do you wonder if you act on the impression, will your efforts really make much difference?
Do you find yourself thinking of reasons why you shouldn’t do what at first seemed like a good idea?
Not long ago, I was making a simple dinner for my family when I had the impression to increase the amount and make enough to share with a young family I knew. But then I began to consider why maybe I shouldn’t.
- The young mother was probably managing her home and children better than I ever did at that stage.
- What if she took it as a judgment of her?
- It wasn’t a fancy meal, or even an especially great meal. The soup and homemade bread, neither of which turned out as well as I would have liked, could only be described as filling.
- I didn’t know the family very well.
- It would be inconvenient to get it to them. It was snowy and cold outside.
- And, I realized I wasn’t even sure where they lived!
The reasons for not acting, seemed legitimate and had become more and more persuasive.
I knew that I felt good after the first thought but when I started to second-guess myself, I began to doubt.
And then I remembered the words of Ronald Rasband,
“…“First promptings are pure inspiration from heaven….we need to recognized them for what they are and never let them slip past.”
I had to decide what to do.
I choose to honor the first feeling and ignore my doubts.
I quickly got the containers ready, the bread wrapped, a box to put everything in and a note written before I changed my mind, believing the way would open up to deliver it. I had to be creative, but it all worked out.
I enjoyed the peace that comes from acting on the first promptings and a lovely note of gratitude from the young mother.
The more we act on the first promptings the more confident we become in recognizing and following through on our spiritual impressions.
With love,
