Why This Prompting?

Illustration by David Green

In Concord, California, USA, I taught high school biology, life sciences, and art, including an advanced art class for college credit after school. I also took field trips with my students to see some of the art treasures in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For one field trip, we planned to visit a collection of Rodin bronze sculptures and other art works at an art museum in San Francisco and then eat lunch in Golden Gate Park. The students enthusiastically looked forward to the trip.

We planned to go on October 17, 1989, but that morning I got an uncomfortable feeling of dread. I felt that we should not go to San Francisco after all, but I did not understand why. The spiritual impression was strong and continued all morning. I tried to dismiss it, praying silently to know whether I was experiencing an ungrounded fear or normal anxiety of being in charge of several teenagers in a new environment.

But then a thought came to me from the scriptures that I could not ignore:

“I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

“Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation” (Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3).

That thought confirmed that I must postpone the trip. When I told my students we would not be going, moans and groans of disappointment could be heard all over campus. I told them I was sorry but that I felt we should not go. Instead, we would hold the advanced art class after school as usual. I promised that we would take the field trip another time.

Rather than stay inside for class that afternoon, I decided we would go to the park adjoining the school grounds, about 150 yards from the classroom, and draw. I was sitting on a bench of a concrete table demonstrating some techniques for the students when I felt the table move.

For a second I thought a student was kicking the table, but suddenly trees in the park shook violently. Branches snapped off. The ground in the park convulsed like a rug being shaken. A terrible rumble grew to a roar. Some of the students began to weep and wail. After 20 seconds, a terrible silence followed.

When the noise and shaking subsided, we quietly returned to the classroom. The already-messy art room was in shambles. Power to the school was off, and the room was dark. I put away some materials and told the students to go directly home, locked the room, and left.

As I made my way home, the car radio reported that an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale had hit the Bay Area. Thousands were injured and dozens were killed. In San Francisco, many buildings burned or collapsed. Roads and bridges were closed. Nearly a week passed before some people stranded in the city could return home. It took years to repair some buildings that were seriously damaged, including the museum where my students and I had planned to spend the afternoon.

I am thankful to know that our Father in Heaven loves us and that He cares for and watches over us according to His will. I’m also thankful that through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, He warns us of physical and spiritual dangers if we have ears to hear.

“We can pray to our Heavenly Father and receive guidance and direction, be warned about dangers and distractions, and be enabled to accomplish things we simply could not do on our own,” President Russell M. Nelson (1924–2025) taught. “If we will truly receive the Holy Ghost and learn to discern and understand His promptings, we will be guided in matters large and small.”

I know that to be true.