Workings of the Holy Ghost

I recently was asked to talk at a friend's daughter's baptism. The talk I was asked to give was on the Holy Ghost, something that a person recieves when they are baptized. Here is the talk I gave:

When someone makes the choice to be baptized and makes the covenants associated with baptism, they qualify themselves to have the opportunity to recieve the Holy Ghost to be with them always. 

The Holy Ghost is a very precious gift for He helps us in our lives. There are many ways that the Holy Ghost communicates with us, and many different ways that the Holy Ghost helps us.

Some of the ways He helps us is that: He Testifies of truth (3 Nephi 28:11), protects us, inspires us to serve and do good, guides us, gives us comfort.

When we come to church, when we read the scriptures, when we meet with the missionaries, we can feel the Holy Ghost. This comes as a feeling of joy, a feeling of peace, sometimes I have felt a swelling of my chest or goosebumps on my arms. This is the Holy Ghost testifying to you that what you are reading or hearing is true. 

When we are having these feelings, when we are filled with the Holy Ghost, we are filled with the love of God. When we feel God's love for us, we more easily feel love for our fellow man. With this love, we have desires to do good, to serve others. 

The Holy Ghost helps us in so many ways. I wanted to tell about the story of Alma to demonstrate how the Holy Ghost works in our lives.

There was a wicked city, with an evil King Noah. A prophet came and cried repentance.

Because Alma had listened to the prophet, and wanted to repent, King Noah wanted to kill Alma.

Alma hid in the wilderness, but because he was filled with so much joy in his heart - had the Holy Ghost- he wanted to help other people find that joy, peace, and happiness. He taught people and batized them in the wilderness. This is an example of the Holy Ghost giving us a desire to love and help others.

One day Alma was warned, by God, through the Holy Ghost, that they needed to leave. King Noah was sending his guards to kill them. This decision to follow the promptings to leave saved Alma, and the hundreds of people Alma baptized. Here we see that the Holy Ghost offers us guidence and revelation from God.

The people of Alma built up a new city, a beautiful city, where they were sucessful and life was good. The people were being righteous and they were all happy.

One day, the Lamenites (enemies) found them and later overtook their city. The people of Alma were subjected to bondage and their trials were sore.

But why would this be? Alma and his people were righteous? Can bad things happen to righteous people?

When some people get baptized, they assume that they won't have anymore trials because of their righteous choices, but this is not so. Everyone will have trials, members of the church or not. One huge difference in facing these trials as a member of the church is the companionship of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost gives us strength and comfort. The Holy Ghost carries us so that we can deal with these trials.

The people of Alma cried unto God. God did not immediately deliver them, but through the Holy Ghost, God gave them peace, He gave them strength. God told them:

 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand aswitnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord didstrengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

 Mosiah 24: 14-15

In life there are challenges, there are trials. Some are heavier than others, but regardless, no one is immune to having difficult times. Storms will come, temptasts will rage, people will let you down, loved ones will get sick, loved ones will pass on, employment will be lost.

But admist all of these trials, you can still feel the joy and peace that the gospel brings. You can still do this because when you rely on the Savior, he will send His Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to be with you.  Your burdens will be made light, you will be strengthened and able to carry them, and through it all, you can have peace and joy, for this is what the Holy Ghost gives us.

 I am so grateful for the role the Holy Ghost has played in my life. It has given me direction, given me peace, given me inspiration, and bore witness of the truthfullness of the Gospel. I testify that you have a loving Heavenly Father that cherishes you, that you have an Older brother, Jesus Christ, that atoned for your sins, and I testify that you can have the Holy Ghost as your companion, your teacher, your guide, and your comforter. 

- This is where my talk ended, but I did have more thoughts that I would like to share here:

The Lord eventually helped the people of Alma escape the bondage. They fled northward where they came upon the people of Zarahemla. Zarahelma was a place of refuge, but also a very sucessful city. The people of Alma were able to unite themselves with the people and become more prosperous and more happy. 

This coming to Zarahemla and finding rest was the ultimate "Happy Ending" of the story. As I have thought about this account, I have come to see that the Lamenites coming to put the people of Alma in bondage actually served a much higher purpose. Though being in bondage was the climax of the conflict in the story, it really brought about the best resolution. 

If the people in Alma would never had been in bondage, they would have remained in the city they had built up. This may have been fine, but God had higher aspirations for them, He wanted more from and for them. Yes, they had to go through some hard times, just like we all do, but because they submitted themselvese "cheerfully" and "with patience", they qualified themselves for something better.

I like to compare that to our journey to the Celestial Kingdom. In this story, Zarahemla represents the Celestial Kingdom. We are each on our own journey to be with God in the Celestial Kingdom. Some are still residing with King Noah, some are in the wilderness, some are in the city that they had built. Regardless of where we are, it is the trials that move us, qualify us, to be better, to make changes in our selves, even to be able to handle more trials. These trials can change us to become more like Him. When we allow them to work in us this great goodness, then we can qualify ourselves for the Celestial Kingdom, we can qualify to be with Our Lord and Savior once more, we can qualify to be in Our Father in Heaven's presence.