Wilford Woodruff Journal 3: The Still Small Voice Told Him to Move the Carriage — Lightning Struck the Tree Where He Had Stood (c. 1860s)

This is one of the most frequently cited accounts of the Holy Ghost as a literal lifesaving voice in Wilford Woodruff's journal — told by Woodruff himself in his later years and confirmed in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church manual.

Wilford Woodruff was traveling in a carriage when, without any visible warning, he felt a distinct impression from the Spirit to get up and move the carriage to another spot. There was no storm, no lightning, no thunder, no visible danger. He described it:

'It was not thunder, lightning or an earthquake, but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God — the Holy Ghost. It said to me, "Move your carriage."'

Woodruff obeyed immediately. He got up and moved the carriage. A short time later, a bolt of lightning struck the exact spot where the carriage had been standing — or in some accounts, the tree under which it had stood was struck and destroyed.

Woodruff reflected on the experience:

'That was the still, small voice to me — no earthquake, no thunder, no lightning; but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God. It saved my life. It was the spirit of revelation to me. Had I not listened to that still, small voice... I would have been in the spirit world a great many years ago.'

This account became a foundational teaching on the nature of personal revelation and the literal, lifesaving function of the Holy Ghost. Woodruff later taught: 'I have never spent any of my time more profitably for the benefit of mankind than in listening to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost.' He attributed his survival through 27 documented life-threatening situations to precisely this kind of attentive obedience to the Spirit.