Listening to the Spirit

I really enjoyed the lesson today in Relief Society. It was from the last General Conference--by Richard G. Scott. He talked about acquiring spiritual guidance. Of course the whole talk was inspiring, but for some reason a couple of things stood out for me. He said "The inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit can be overcome or masked by strong emotions, such as anger, hate, passion, fear, or pride... Strong emotions overcome the delicate promptings of the Holy Spirit." It is not a new concept to me, but for some reason it stood out as important to remember. Another thing that stood out was that Satan is extremely good at blocking spiritual communication. With some individuals he is able to convince them that they are not able to receive such guidance from the Lord. I think all too often we don't get dramatic answers to prayers and so we don't recognize the answers when they come in more subtle ways. However, I do know that God answers prayers, that he loves me and that I need to make myself open to understanding the promptings. And I can't let anger, fear or pride get in the way.