One last point for those not of my faith. While other Christian religions believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are a trinity, making one being, we (Mormons) believe that God our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct beings, being one in purpose, but not in body. Instead of referring to them as a trinity, we refer to them as The Godhead. This is one facet of our religion that distinguishes us from other Christian faiths.
While I spoke about the Holy Ghost, Nathan spoke about our Heavenly Father. He always amazes me when he speaks in church. It seems to come so naturally for him, and I always learn something new about him--even after knowing him for 15 years. Every time I hear him speak in church, I fall a little more in love with the man I chose as my eternal companion. I was thankful for the opportunity for us to speak on these sacred topics. My talk is as follows:
We just
partook of the sacrament, and as such my thoughts were turned to our Savior,
Jesus Christ. I often wonder how it
would have been to have lived when He lived, to be at His feet during the
Sermon on the Mount, to see him perform many miracles, or to have been among those
He appeared to as the resurrected Christ.
I also like to ponder on the experience of the Nephites in the Book of
Mormon, as Christ appeared to them after His resurrection, and allowed them to
feel His hands and feet. I love to think
of my child as being one who could have been blessed by Him, and surrounded by
and ministered to by the Savior and angels, as did the Nephite children [in the Book of Mormon].
The people
who were present at these experiences, who had testimonies of Jesus Christ as
their Savior, felt such sorrow at His leaving them. Remember, the Nephites were so sad, that Jesus
promised to come back one more day to visit them. But after He was ascended to heaven for the
final time, they were not left alone, nor were His followers on the other side of the world, and neither are we, for He promised in
John 14: 16, 26: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." The Comforter is the Holy Ghost.
The blessing
of the Gift of the Holy Ghost is given to us at the time of our baptism and
confirmation. Once we are accountable
for our actions, after baptism, we are not left to face life's experiences
alone. We are blessed to have the third
member of the Godhead with us at all times.
That concept struck me when I realized that second only to God our
Heavenly Father, and our Savior Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost is a member of the
Godhead, and WE HAVE THE BLESSING OF HAVING HIM WITH US AT ALL TIMES, as long
as we live worthy of his presence. We
aren't promised the presence of parents, teachers, leaders, friends, prophets,
or apostles who have gone before--we are blessed with the presence of a member
of the Godhead. We need to be using this
powerful blessing to its full potential.
How sad it would be to set it aside and never use this amazing gift from
our Heavenly Father. As Sister
Nadauld did in her talk, I would also like to go through three things the Holy
Ghost can do for us: He can comfort,
guide, and testify.
The Holy
Spirit is our comforter. There are many
instances when we need comfort: the death of a loved one, when we're sick or
afflicted with physical limitations, when we lose our job, when we face new
challenges, just to name a few. When I
was 19 I'd just moved from little old American Fork, UT to Boston, MA. My husband and I were dating at the time, and
he was the only person in Boston that I knew when I moved there. I went through several lonely months before I
made any friends, and often questioned why I had felt compelled to move to a
city so far from my friends and family. As I prayed
to Heavenly Father for help and comfort, I was directed to the scriptures. Doctrine and Covenants 6:34-37
34 Therefore, fear not, little aflock; do
good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are bbuilt upon
my rock, they cannot prevail.
35 Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways
and asin no
more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.
37 aBehold the
wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the bnails in
my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall cinherit the dkingdom of
heaven.
At that
moment, those words "fear not, little flock" touched my soul by
reminding me that I am one of the Lord’s sheep, and also reminding me that my
Father in Heaven was aware of me and my needs and feelings. Although it may seem like a minor thing when
compared to other more challenging times when we may need comfort, the Holy
Ghost was there to bring the Spirit of the Lord to my heart and mind, and put
my worries at bay.
Another time I felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost, Nathan and I had just moved to Atlanta, and I was interviewing for a job. I had been praying for strength and help for the interview, and also to find a job that would be good for me and my family, as I would be the sole bread-winner while Nathan was in graduate school. As I walked up to the office door, an overwhelming feeling of comfort flooded over me, and I felt strongly that I was in the right place, and would be offered the job. That feeling of comfort calmed my nerves and helped me through several interviews. The offer didn't come that day, but it did come, and that job was a blessing to me in many ways later on.
Another time I felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost, Nathan and I had just moved to Atlanta, and I was interviewing for a job. I had been praying for strength and help for the interview, and also to find a job that would be good for me and my family, as I would be the sole bread-winner while Nathan was in graduate school. As I walked up to the office door, an overwhelming feeling of comfort flooded over me, and I felt strongly that I was in the right place, and would be offered the job. That feeling of comfort calmed my nerves and helped me through several interviews. The offer didn't come that day, but it did come, and that job was a blessing to me in many ways later on.
If you pray
for comfort, that gift will come to you, for in John 14:27 the Lord said,
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
The second
purpose of the Holy Ghost, as mentioned by Sister Nadauld, is to guide. We can pray to our Father in Heaven for
guidance in temporal and spiritual matters, and through the power of the Holy
Ghost we can feel His divine guidance.
Just as with comfort, guidance through the Holy Spirit can be
life-altering, or it can seem a small thing.
One such small instance for me was when Cooper was about 14 months
old. He was walking and into
everything. Our house was as
childproofed as I could make it, but I did leave one kitchen cabinet without a
child lock, so he could often find and play with the Rubbermaid containers as I
worked in the kitchen to make dinner and such.
I also had stored my Kitchen Aid mixer in that cabinet, it being heavy
enough that he wouldn't be able to move it, and sturdy enough that he wouldn't
damage it in any way. One day I was in
the kitchen making dinner, and had the thought, "You should turn that mixer around so the
handle isn't sticking out. Cooper could
fall on it, and damage his eye." Cooper wasn't even in the room with me, so I
thought this was a strange thought, dismissed it, and went on cooking. A few minutes later, the same thought
occurred to me again. I wondered what
the likelihood was of something like that happening, and went on cooking. Finally, the thought was, "Turn the
mixer around." It was more of a
command than a gentle idea. Having
learned that such thoughts/warnings often come as blessings from the Holy
Ghost, I turned the mixer around so the handle was inside. Who knows what could have happened had I not
followed that thought--maybe Cooper would have been injured, maybe not--but
knowing from other past experiences how the Holy Ghost can gently guide us, I
decided to follow the prompting.
Another time
the Holy Ghost guided me, I was a young girl, 18 years old, and had my first visiting teaching assignment. One day on my way home from
work, I had the feeling that I should go buy some flowers and take them to one
of the girls I visit taught. I thought
that would be a kind thing to do for visiting teaching, so I followed the
prompting. When I unexpectedly showed up
at her door, her husband was relieved to see someone caring for his wife who
had just had surgery that day. They were
newly married, and new to the ward, and no one had known of her surgery. That was my first experience with the Holy
Ghost prompting me about visiting teaching.
During a
more troubling time in my life, I was faced with circumstances that left me
feeling alone, afraid, and as if my entire world would be swept from under my
feet at any moment. This particular
trial lasted for several years, and I spent countless tears, hours on my knees
in prayer, fasting, going to the temple, receiving counsel from my bishop, and
studying the scriptures. Every time I
went to the Lord searching for guidance in what to do with this particular
trial, I felt that the answer was to have patience, show charity, and most
importantly to continue to keep my temple covenants, to keep the commandments and
live the gospel the best I could.
Although those years were agonizing and seemed at the moment to last
forever, I am thankful now to look back and see the guidance of the Lord in my
life through the Holy Ghost. I am
thankful to have the guidance of the Lord through the Holy Ghost, and not have to
find my own way.
Truly
guidance and promptings come in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it’s a small thought or feeling to
call or text someone or to write a letter, sometimes it’s a direct answer to
prayer when asking the Lord for guidance in a specific matter, other times we
find guidance through scripture study.
No matter the situation or how quiet or obvious the prompting, I have
learned the hard way to always follow the Holy Ghost, no matter how small or insignificant
the prompting may seem. It's also
important to keep the commandments and live our lives so that we can hear with
our spiritual ears those quiet promptings that can come at any time. You never know, it may come while you're stirring a pot of spaghetti for dinner.
Lastly, the
Holy Ghost is a testifier. In Moroni
10:5, we are promised that "by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the
truth of all things." If we strive
to, we can all feel the Holy Spirit each week in church as talks are given,
lessons are taught, and testimonies are borne.
We can feel the Spirit as we read and study the scriptures, as we pray,
and as we go about doing good and serving others. The
whisperings of the Spirit that we feel all add up to what becomes our
testimony. As we hear testimonies from others, and share
our testimony with others, the Holy Ghost testifies of that truth to our
hearts. I love what Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church teaches about bearing and hearing testimonies. He teaches that when we bear our testimony to
others, they “are not only hearing our testimony of Christ, but they are
hearing echoes of other, earlier testimonies, including their own testimony of
Him,” for they were among the valiant who chose Christ and chose to follow Him
over Satan in the premortal life. Elder
Holland says, “When they hear others bear witness of [Christ’s] saving mission,
it has a familiar feeling; it brings an echo of truth they themselves already
know…Furthermore, when you bear testimony of Christ’s mission, you invoke the
power of God the Father and the Holy Ghost.”
We should all be working on strengthening our own testimony, and the
testimonies of those around us.
There have
been many instances in my life when I've felt the Spirit testify to me of the
truthfulness of a gospel principle, or that Jesus Christ is my Savior. The one experience I'd like to share took place
when I was 18 years old and had a chance to visit the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, NY, where
Joseph Smith knelt and prayed and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ [what is referred to as the "First Vision"]. During my visit, I had the opportunity to
take some time alone, and I wandered to a more secluded place off the path, and
sat and read the scriptures and prayed for a witness that the Church is
true. While I didn't see an angel or
hear a voice, I did receive a witness through the sweet comforting feeling of
the Holy Ghost that the Church is true.
I recorded in my scriptures the following:
7/11/99--Read
[Joseph Smith History, and the First Vision] while sitting in the Sacred Grove
in Palmyra, NY. What an exhilarating
feeling is present! Words cannot express. This account is
truth. I know it, and will never deny
it. God the Father and Jesus Christ did
in fact appear to Joseph Smith.
Now, you don't have to travel to church history sites, or to the temple or even to church to feel the Holy Ghost and to gain a testimony. The power of the Holy Ghost can be with us anywhere that is conducive to the Spirit. It is our responsibility to keep our lives clean and worthy to have the Holy Ghost with us at all times. Our Father in Heaven and our Savior, Jesus Christ, have not left us alone. Not only have we been shown the way, we have a member of the Godhead to comfort and guide us. It is our responsibility to "receive the Holy Ghost" as our confirmation blessing states, and as such to search for Him, to listen, and to follow the promptings as we are comforted, guided, and testified to.
I know thing things are true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and that by following Him, we can find our way back to our Heavenly Father, to eternal life, and to exaltation, and that the Holy Ghost is given to us to help us find our way. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment