I've prayed daily to be led by the Lord.
And then, I've resisted the quiet impressions: you don't need to check your social media account right now, don't vent about your ex to that person, time to leave the Scrabble app. I've told myself I'm not doing anything wrong. I've told myself that it's my own mind saying those things and not the Lord. Almost invariably, though, I've come to regret that I didn't follow the impression I ignored. Recently, Russell M. Nelson, whom I regard as a prophet of God, invited me to both increase my capacity to receive divine revelation and to think deeply and often about how I hear the voice of the Lord. I've discovered those two invitations are connected. If I heed the whisperings of His Spirit that come to me, He will give me more. I can be continually guided, and know that I am guided, by the only One who sees the end from the beginning and is the embodiment of perfect love. I need to stop discounting His voice. And the first step is to acknowledge it. "Speak Lord," I want to say, "thy servant heareth." So now, when an inconvenient but wise and gentle nudging comes to my mind, I am trying to answer it. "I hear Thee," I say. Somehow, it's much easier to obey after I stop plugging my ears.
(Originally posted April 13, 2020)
Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash
Good idea separating religion and politics and also courageous to address both. Your grandfather was Avery sociable man and felt it wrong to speak about either.