Latter-day Saint Life

John Bytheway: How Do I Know If I've Felt the Spirit?

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MR says: How do we know if we are feeling the spirit? Or how do we know if what we think we are feeling is really just us or something more? Check out these great insights from John Bytheway.

My teenage son said to me one day, “How do I know if I’ve felt the Spirit?”  I panicked and went into my office and wrote a book.  Recognizing and understanding the feelings of the Spirit is a lifelong pursuit, and oftentimes the feelings are so subtle, that we’re not sure we’ve felt anything at all.  Here’s an excerpt from “How Do I Know if I Know?”

Most often when we talk about testimonies, we refer to feelings. We talk about “feeling the Spirit,” or “feeling good” about a decision, or “feeling impressed” to do something. And yet, when we try to describe how we felt, or exactly what something felt like, we discover it’s very hard to explain. President Boyd K. Packer taught:

We do not have the words (even the scriptures do not have words) which perfectly describe the Spirit. The scriptures generally use the word voice, which does not exactly fit. These delicate, refined spiritual communications are not seen with our eyes nor heard with our ears. And even though it is described as a voice, it is a voice that one feels more than one hears (That All May Be Edified, 335).

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