Learning to listen!

In my first post on Inspiration Point, I noted that it is my belief that life is a time to learn. One of the areas of learning in this life takes place in the form of learning to listen to the Spirit. It's something I feel I'm not very good at, and I have been praying about so that I can become better at it. Mostly I feel like I don't recognize when it's the Spirit prompting me.

Today was one of those days where I am kicking myself (hard) because I didn't recognize the promptings I was receiving as coming from the Holy Ghost, and saw the consequences of not listening in the aftermath of the circumstances.

The Story:
As D was getting ready to leave for work at 6:15 this morning, I felt like I should drive him to his car pool spot. Not seeing a reason as to why I would need our car today, I let that feeling slide, and he took the car to work, leaving me stranded at home without a vehicle (which is usually perfectly fine).

Around 8:30am I received a phone call from my mom (she's was on her way down to St. George on a shuttle van because it was cheaper than it would be for her to drive her own van down, and she doesn't feel comfortable driving that far alone anyway). However, yesterday my mom, my sister, and my nephew got in a car accident, and my mom was feeling pretty uncomfortable in the shuttle due to her achy muscles and joints, but they just happened to be stopping close by my house to refuel the shuttle van and she wanted me to bring her a pillow. Unfortunately, I did not have the car, so I couldn't bring her a pillow to make her ride a little more comfortable (although I did offer to run or ride my bike, but I wouldn't get there in enough time).

I laid in bed for probably 15 minutes after we hung up, because there really wasn't a way for me to help her out (especially because they didn't stop at my exit, but the one just north of where I live), and then I finally decided to get up and shower. As I went into the bathroom, I felt like I should bring my cell phone in with me, but again, I couldn't see a reason as to why I would need to. After showering and getting ready for the day, I checked my phone and saw that I had missed 2 calls and had a voice mail from my mom. As I listened to the message, she sounded distressed, but I couldn't tell exactly what was wrong because the message was choppy and kept cutting out. I called her back immediately, and luckily someone else had been available to come to the aid of my stranded mother. Yes, I said stranded. The driver of the shuttle van had left my poor, hurting, stressed out mom at the gas station!!!! (Hence the 2 phone calls and voice mail I missed from her while I was in the shower.) Luckily, Heavenly Father watches out for us and He will always find someone else to meet our needs when the first person is not available. A nice family from Idaho Falls was on their way down to St. George too, so they picked up my mom and brought her down to Nephi, where should would again be able to meet up with the shuttle van driver.

It's now after 1:00, and my mom made it safely to St. George where she will hopefully be able to spend a few relaxing days hanging out with my brother and two of my nieces.

I still feel awful though that I failed to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost not once, but twice today!! Although I feel like I failed this test of listening, hopefully this experience is more of a lesson learned rather than a lesson that will need to be repeated over and over again until I finally get the message.