Just do it

A while back, I had been struggling with trying to understand whether my thoughts were my thoughts, or promptings from the Holy Ghost. Nate gave me some good advice, he basically said to just follow those promptings even if we're not sure. And show Heavenly Father that you are capable of listening. That sometimes we need to be trained. And we need to show Heavenly Father that we are willing to listen to those promptings no matter how silly they may seem, just to show him that we will. That way we get in the habit of listening and can be prompted more naturally.
Well, I have followed this advice off and on since then and most recently have worked on following those little promptings that I have almost ALWAYS ignored. The "I should grab that before I go" or "maybe I should check and see if I really did turn the curling iron off" ones. So that has been my goal, and I have had some really interesting experiences with it! The first one was a time that I DIDN'T listen, when I had the "idea" to bring my scriptures with me to church (this was my last Sunday without Nate, and I had not been taking my scriptures with me since I was holding Noah the whole time and couldn't use them anyway- seemed like extra baggage really), but so anyway, I chose to use my lame logic that I couldn't possibly need it and didn't take them with me. So of course halfway through Sacrament meeting Sister Timmerman took Noah for me, he fell asleep and slept all through Sunday School, so she had him, the whole time!!! I totally could have used my scriptures in Sunday School! Really it wasn't that big a deal- I still got to enjoy the lesson and it was a wonderful Sunday- but in the back of my mind I KNEW that I had not listened to that prompting. It was something to think about.
Okay, so I have had a number of times where I listened and cool little things happened!! If only I had written them all down! But here's a little one- on Tuesday night when I was loading up the kids to go get Noah's prescription (which, by the way- am I the only one who feels weird when they just call in a prescription for you without seeing your child?? I mean, in a LOT of ways it's nice- I don't have to haul all my kids down to the doctor's office at some random, unscheduled time, hoping it's something so that I didn't waste everyone's time-- but in a way it's just weird.....I mean what if I'm just being a paranoid mom- not uncommon!- and they're really fine! Well, with Noah it was because I had ALREADY taken him in and it had been "nothing" but the Dr. left a note in his chart that said if it got worse or didn't get better it was probably a bacterial infection. So I understand that this is pretty standard procedure. I think it just kind of drives me nuts to not know exactly what kind of infection!! Was it sinus, ear, something I have never heard of???? UGH!! And it's lame because you totally treat them all the same- a bottle of pink amoxicillin, so why do I care- I'm not sure.) Anyway! where was I- man, I totally went off on that one! Okay, so yeah, we were leaving to go get Noah's medicine, and I had this "idea" or "thought" to bring my camera. How weird is that! Who takes a camera when they go to the store to buy medicine? (Well, in AK I took my camera everywhere just in case I saw a moose :)) But how weird! So while I thought it was strange and couldn't imagine why I would possibly need it (well, I guess I tried to imagine what I might need it for- a car accident, weird animal, the kids do something cute....whatever, still seemed strange!) I grabbed it and threw it in the front seat. So we went, got the medicine and some groceries, and came right home. Nothing happened. And I had completely forgotten about my camera at this point. So why was it so wonderful that I had taken it with me?? WELL!! I'll tell you!! Because I had put it in the car....it was in there when we went to Bradley's field trip!!!! I had totally not even had a second to think about the camera THAT morning. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get ALL of my kids ready before school started so that we could meet the Joyschool group at 9:30. It's been a while since I had them ALL ready that early- I usually take the girls to school with at least half of us in jammies! So it was WAY cool when we got there and I realized that I DID have the camera with me! (I know I sound lame, but that's because it's the PRINCIPLE of the matter!) I was SO EXCITED that I listened to that prompting (as insignificant as it had seemed). I just love the opportunity to show Heavenly Father that I CAN listen if I just stop trying to know it all. I just want to be able to understand the promptings of the Spirit so that I can be sure to do what is best for my family. You know how you always hear those stories about someone who was prompted to do something and ended up saving their kid's life bla bla bla.....well, that's what I want to be capable of, and right now I don't think I'm there. I'm working on it though. So there ya have it, the rambling mind of an crazy woman :) Thanks for reading :)