As a young adult, I was an EFY counselor for a summer.
I was preparing a lesson I had to give on Friday to my group of teenage girls in my counselor group.
I prayed and pondered a lot.
Eventually I had a story pop into my mind to share and center my lesson around.
Friday came, and it was a beautiful experience!
The Spirit was present.
Girls opened up about their feelings.
I knew that I had followed the promptings of the Spirit.
The next week came, now with a brand new group of girls.
I felt so excited for Friday’s lesson since it had gone so well the previous week!
Except, I kept having the thought to re-plan it.
I didn’t feel good about it.
I pushed that thought to the side, though, because the previous week’s lesson had been so successful.
I never replanned.
Friday came, and I taught the lesson the same exact way. . .
And it was a total flop.
I didn’t feel the Spirit, I could tell my girls weren’t feeling it, and I just felt confused.
We can’t do the exact same thing every time and expect Him to be present.
The Spirit is not a calculation.
Moroni taught, “. . . the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing.” (Moroni 6:9)
The Spirit is dynamic, adaptive, and exactly what we need it to be.
If we cling too much to how the Spirit worked for us in the past or how it worked for others, we might miss out on the blessings that come from asking the Spirit what we need right now.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
