As I knelt down this morning to offer my formal “opening prayer” for the day, I automatically (after 20 years of daily repetition) reached for my pen and notepad.
I had to smile as the recognition whispered through my mind: “This is how it all began.”
And it is so true. It began with my hearing a prophet say that it was a good idea to bring something to write with when I prayed. If I really wanted to demonstrate to God my faith that He would truly hear me and answer me, I needed to be ready to take notes.
This is where over 20 years and 1000’s of pages of conversations with God began for me. I hear the Spirit deliver to me, through my spiritual ears, rich counsel and guidance from God. Over the years, I have come to know the delightful difference in the tone and timbre—or “voice print”—of the Father and the Son’s words to me.
All I had to do to know there were two individual Beings at the other end of my God-ward thoughts was to address my thoughts to either one or the other. The words that come back into my mind have the authority of God in them, as one with each other—but they “sound” different to me.
And they both make me smile with the wave of warmth and love the “sound” of their voice introduces into my soul. It’s exactly like being able to call home from the midst of a really hard mission and hear my most perfect, tender, loving Father’s or Brother’s voices.
It all began with taking a prophet* at his word about actually writing down the answers (words and impressions) that came in the midst of prayer. Doing that has taught me by my own experience that Moses’ words in Numbers 11:29 are still true today. God still would that all his people knew His voice, one-on-one, personally.
~Colleen H.
Other discussions of recording what the Spirit speaks to your heart and mind:
- Elder Boyd K. Packer. Teach Ye Diligently. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1975. (pgs. 260-261)
- Elder Richard G. Scott. “How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life.” General Conference talk, April 2012.
- Elder Richard G. Scott. “To Acquire Knowledge and the Strength to Use It Wisely,” Devotional talk given at BYU, 23 January 2001.
- Elder Richard G. Scott. “To Acquire Spiritual Guidance.” General Conference Talk, October 2009.
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