Welcome.

One of the Sunday School teachers in my ward shared a story from his family history with class members today. He said that his grandfather had once gone into the mountains to go trapping. During the course of his time in the mountains, he fell into the unforgiving grips of a nasty snowstorm.

Mounted on his horse, his grandfather became disoriented and could not determine the correct way out. He was not a religious man and so petitioning heaven for help was not in the forefront of his mind. The Lord, however, was aware of him and sent the Holy Ghost to give him an impression.

He had the thought come to his mind that his horse, unlike him, would not grapple with directional confusion. He felt that he should dismount and walk to the rear of his horse and simply grab his horse’s tail, hold on, and follow where the horse led. He did this, and his horse guided him safely out of the mountains, landing him, when all was said and done, back home. (Wilks, J., story used with permission)

I love that horses are intuitively wired for home. I grew up on a ranch and was more than once steered back to the safety of home by the horse I was riding. As I recall it, we had a horse or two that was barn sour and always wanted to return to the barn. I remember those animals being difficult to ride. Mounting them made for short trips or frustrating rides. However, when lost, an instinctively steered horse was a God-send.

But I digress. This article isn’t meant to be about horses, rather about impressions from God through his mail deliverer, the Holy Ghost.

Probably like you, I have, over the course of my mid-life, received many impressions from the Spirit. Many I have heeded. Some I have not.

My patriarchal blessing promises me that I will, reliant upon my faithfulness, be protected many times. I have been largely unaware of these safeties except for one time when a strong warning came to me from an acquaintance I did not know well. God sent her to warn me of an absolutely devastating situation into which I would have innocently but foolishly fallen, one that could have cost me my virtue or my life, had she not heeded her premonition in my behalf. However, because of the promise of my blessing, I am led to believe that I have been saved many more times than I’ve been aware.

We have a member of the Godhead to lead, inspire, direct, and comfort us! It is just so obviously astounding to me that not only do we have God, to whom we can look for assistance and direction, but He sent His Son to make the way back possible, and if the two of them aren’t enough, we have also been given a third God to help us: the Holy Spirit, he who succors us in the day-to-day moments. Can there be any doubt that we are deeply valued and no question about it wanted back home?

It’s just too much help available for us to think otherwise.

Elder Rasband taught,

“The Holy Ghost binds us to the Lord…We have the sacred responsibility to learn to recognize His influence in our lives and respond…we must act on the first prompting…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. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that if you will listen to the first promptings, you will get it right nine times out of ten…” (Rasband, R., “Let the Holy Spirit Guide,” April 2017 General Conference).

Those are quite good odds.

It really is our incredible privilege to, as it were, grab ahold of the horse’s tail and follow where we are led.

I’ve never been led astray by following where the Spirit has bid me go and doing what the Spirit has bid me do. It’s contrary to both the plan of heaven and the Spirit’s mission to lead us anywhere but closer to God and more fully towards the light of everlasting truth.

Unto all the world: Grab ahold and follow where He leads!