Holy Ghost

After our baptism, we are confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost with a promise that we can have the comfort and guidance we need throughout our life.

I wouldn't call myself a person deeply sensitive to those spiritual promptings. Even though I try to live worthy of them, I don't get regular messages or thoughts running through my head, prompting me that a friend needs my help today, etc.

But I do believe that I am a deeply spiritual person very much in tune with what is right and true and meaningful in life. I have an inner sense of right and wrong that I have learned to trust. That inner sense guides my daily choices. I can trust how I feel as I watch a movie or read a book. I stop when my "feelings" tell me to.

I trust those feelings to guide me on political issues and especially on social issues. I know that every single person is a Child of God. That knowledge is deep within me - a Gift of the Spirit. Therefore I cannot abide policies that separate children from their parents. I cannot abide laws that favor some at the expense of others. I believe these feelings and promptings are Gifts of the Spirit, too.

I am also very sensitive to scriptures that do not portray God in a correct manner.  I battled those for years and have come to understand that the reason they do not resonate is because they are corruptions of the nature of God and the Spirit has been telling me that all of my life.

I have had a few times in my life when the Spirit spoke to me with that silent knowing that is so hard to describe.

There was a time when I was about 10. A girlfriend and I had written our bikes to our elementary school and we were just playing in the stream there. A man came and sat down and started talking to us. I began to feel uncomfortable with the conversation and suddenly inside me there was this "knowing" that I cannot describe. But I knew we needed to leave and leave immediately. So I told my friend to grab her bike and follow me. I have no idea what may have happened but I knew I should trust that feeling.

It was December 29th 1997 when I was the most grateful I have ever been for that trusting of inner knowing as I call it. It was a Sunday morning and I was getting ready for church when suddenly I knew that Mom needed me. I didn't question - I knew. I called Hettie and told her I had to go see Mom, would she play the organ for me. Then I hurried to Mom's house and let myself in. I found Mom still in bed but unable to get up on her own. I called Ed and he came over to help. Well, you know the rest of that story. Mom died that afternoon at Botsford Hospital. I am so grateful that I was there with her.

That inner voice is the foundation of my testimony. I know deep in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I know God lives and is a loving Father. I know that the values and principles taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints are true. Honesty, integrity, kindness, living a covenant-based life, being faithful to your family, serving others, forgiving everybody, these are the true principles that bring happiness to our lives now and forever.

This testimony is still there in my heart when I have questions about policy or things that I hear someone at church say. So I stay the course, using the philosophy that my job is to become like the Savior. I find I can set aside those things I do not understand because my heart tells me that church is true. I trust the Spirit.

I have lived long enough to know that change is constant and the church is constantly changing and becoming better and better. In fact, I love it because it is free to change and adapt.

My bottom line - the Holy Ghost has so many ways of manifesting itself in our lives. I may experience it differently than others but it is nevertheless a powerful force in my life and when I am grateful for, one that I have learned to trust.