Not too long ago, in a place not too far away (relatively speaking), I was sitting at a computer, looking up college majors at Brigham Young University. At that time, I was a student at Utah State University. I had chosen to attend Utah State right out of high school for a couple different reasons, but in reality, I had always wanted to go to BYU. I had immensely enjoyed my three semesters at Utah State, but my dream of going to BYU was starting to gnaw at me. Around Christmas time, out of curiosity motivated by mild frustration, I started a superficial exploration of what I'd have to do to transfer to BYU. Scrolling through the majors offered, I saw that BYU offered a linguistics program, which I had been interested in studying early on in my college years. I hadn't pursued it because it had not been offered at Utah State. As my eyes lingered on that particular line of that particular page of that particular website of that particular university, I felt something. Briefly, less than a second long, I felt something like a drop of warmth, peace, and confidence. It dipped through my body, and then was gone.
Although I had not recognized it right then, I have come to realize that that was the Holy Ghost.
In Galatians 5:23-23 it reads, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." In The Book of Mormon we read of a man named Nephi, who was trying to procure a record of scripture for his family. In 1 Nephi 4:6 he writes, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." Furthermore, we read in 2 Nephi 32:5, also in The Book of Mormon, "For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do."
"Enter[ing] in by the way" is being baptized, as we discussed in a post not too long ago. After the cleansing gift of baptism, we are able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which bears record of truth, gives us guidance, strengthens us, and does many more things for us. Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost is another step in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Following the subtle promptings of the Holy Ghost is a life-long, daily pursuit. When we follow the Spirit's promptings, we are doing God's will. When we do God's will, there is no way we can go astray.
After exploring tuition costs, programs offered, credit transfers, etc. I made the decision to transfer to BYU. Although I have yet to enter the linguistics program (serving a mission has postponed that for a little while) I am excited and confident that this is the path Heavenly Father wants me to take.
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