I was asked to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. Because I knew there were going to be family members there that were not members of the church, I wanted to make it a teaching moment also. There is a popular concept that the Holy Ghost is like a blanket that warms and protects you. I decided to go with that concept. So I thought and prayed about it for several days.
I am so blessed to have a Heavenly Father who knows how to answer prayers and guide me as to what he wants me to say.
So, in a nutshell, here is my talk:
Ashley is blessed to have a great family. She has grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who love her very much. Her Grandma Day makes a blanket for each grandchild as they are born. The blankets are cross-stitched, so there is a lot of time spent making the blankets. I know that each stitch is made in love. I know, because I have four blankets made by Grandma and my children love their blankets. They use them all the time and they can feel their Grandma's love each time they wrap themselves in their blankets. This blanket ( and I showed the blanket) is the one that Grandma Day made for Ashley. It is her own personal blanket and it keeps her warm and protects her. When she uses this blanket, she knows her Grandma Day loves her very much.
The Holy Ghost is like this blanket. As we are baptized, we make promises to our Heavenly Father that we will follow him. And he, in turn, gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost to protect us. He guides us and he shows us how to live a good life. In our church, we believe that after a person is baptized, they can be given the gift of the Holy Ghost by someone who holds the priesthood.
Ashley's grandparents, the Garbers, I know, have felt the Holy Ghost in their lives also. Even though they do not belong to our church, they are good people, live the commandments and do what is right. Because of this, they have access to the Holy Ghost, or as they call it, Holy Spirit.
They can feel the Holy Ghost the same way we can feel it.
(I held up a picture of Jesus)
This picture of Jesus, is the picture I hold up every Sunday in primary to remind the children why we are in church. When you see this picture, you can remember what Jesus did for us and try and be more reverent. Reverence will invite the spirit into your life and help you be a better person. As we live a good life and follow the commandments, we will be blessed. Ashley is being blessed for making the decision to be baptized today. As she receives the Holy Ghost, she is taking the necessary steps to be able to return and live with Heavenly Father again.
There were other things that I said, but that was the gist of the talk.
I was so grateful I followed the promptings to talk about the Garbers. They came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me how grateful they were that I acknowledged the fact that they feel the spirit also. They told me that it really meant a lot to them that I would think of them and they I know they are good people who feel the Holy Spirit.
Jason's parents both told me that it was the best Holy Ghost talk they had ever heard. And, a few days later, Jason's mom called me about something and then she started to cry. She told me that she needed to be reminded that I was a good person and that she was so touched that I would say all those nice things about her and the blanket.
I was touched because if you know our history then you would know that that for her to say that is h.u.g.e.!!!!
I am grateful for this experience. I felt the spirit very strongly, guiding me what to say. I have been blessed lately to have many experiences that has brought me closer to my Heavenly Father.
And every step we take to having a better relationship with Jason's family is very important to me and also to our own little family.
It is a struggle to write personal experiences like this in a public forum like a blog, but it needed to be written and I needed to be reminded. :)
1 comment:
This post is awesome. Thanks for sharing and for the reminder to follow the spirit.
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