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Hear how the gift of the Holy Ghost equips each of us with the exact spiritual gifts we need in our individual mortal journeys. I also discuss how mental health affects the gift of the Holy Ghost and how we can help those who experience this by truly mourning with them.
There's more than one way to be a spiritually minded woman who wants to make and keep covenants, know her Savior and make it back home. Yes, there are essential CHECKPOINTS on the covenant path, but there are NO CHECKLISTS with a million checkboxes you must check off.
Each week on the Spiritually Minded Women podcast I’ll be sharing insights about how to embrace YOUR journey on the covenant path with CHECKPOINTS instead of CHECKLISTS.
Welcome to the Spiritually Minded Women podcast. I'm your host, Darla Trendler. You're listening to episode four in a five part series on the Doctrine of Christ: the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Let's dive in.
I am so glad that you're here today. Thanks for joining me. I have been struggling with the cold, so I hope my voice is gonna hold out on me today.
I shared a post on Instagram for the first time in many months this past week, and it felt good, but I still don't know how much I'm gonna be showing up on social media, but I am committing to sending out an email every week on Fridays sharing some thoughts. So if you aren't on my email list, you can sign up to get my free video about how I prayer journal, and that will get you on the list.
Those on my email list also get access to some free courses on my membership site. So that's an added bonus for you. And I will be sharing discussion guides I'm creating for this series on the doctrine in Christ with my email list first. So I would love to pop into your inbox. You can find the link to join my email list in the episode description or in the show notes.
In today's episode, I'm gonna discuss the fourth element of the doctrine of Christ, the gift of the Holy Ghost. As I shared in a previous episode, when you're baptized, you make a covenant with God to do three things: take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ, keep his commandments, and serve him to the end.
In return, God promises you blessings like the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, the remission of sins, being spiritually reborn and having eternal life and returning to live with him again. Heavenly Father hasn't left us on our own to keep our end of the covenant.
One of the most beautiful gifts he gives us to help us keep our covenants is the gift of the Holy Ghost. Shortly before Christ was crucified, he knew he would be leaving his disciples and that they would be sad when he left.
Christ knew that they would have many questions about what was going to happen next once he died, but he promised them that he would send them a special gift to help them. John 14:16, the Savior says, "And I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth."
And then he promised, "But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the father will send him my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you," and that's in John 14:26.
If you have been baptized and confirmed you have received this special gift of the Holy Ghost.. When you have the feeling to help someone, that's a Holy Ghost helping you keep your baptismal covenants. When you want to mourn with and comfort your friends and family when they experience difficulties that's the Holy Ghost helping you keep your baptismal covenant. When you have the desire to share what you believe that's the Holy Ghost helping you keep your baptismal covenant.
What an amazing gift the Holy Ghost can be in our lives. I shared in the last episode how I have frequently taken the weekly experience of taking the sacrament for granted. I'm trying to repent and do better, and I think I've also taken for granted the amazing gift I have in the Holy Ghost. So that's something else that I'm trying to do better in. Preparing this episode has helped me to ponder the gift of the Holy Ghost more and to find my own personal applications for how I can value and cherish this gift in my life.
I hope as you listen to this episode, you feel the personal applications that you need in your life to use the gift of the Holy Ghost in your own unique way.
I have felt guided to discuss two different aspects of the gift of the Holy Ghost. First, I will share some thoughts I have had reading the scriptures about how the gift of the Holy Ghost equips each of us with the exact spiritual gifts we need in our individual mortal journey.
Second, I have felt compelled to discuss the effects mental health can have on feeling the Holy Ghost and how those who do not have this struggle can use the Holy Ghost to help those who do struggle to feel it. If you experience mental health challenges such as depression or anxiety, or if you love someone who does, I hope these thoughts will bring you hope and peace.
The gift of the Holy Ghost helps us live our baptismal covenant to serve God, which as the prophet King Benjamin taught in the Book of Mormon, means serving those around us. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the gift to us personally, but also to the body of Christ as a whole. In my own personal study of the doctrine of Christ in the scriptures, I noticed something I had never noticed before about the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I hope this all makes sense and I can articulate what I'm feeling. This is what the spirit has directed me to, and I'm gonna share it with you, but I also invite you to study on your own and seek for your own personal revelation and applications for for the doctrine of Christ. I shared earlier in this series that a great place to start studying the doctrine of Christ in the scriptures is found in Second Nephi, chapters 31 and 32.
These chapters contain some of the last things we read from the prophet Nephi as he's about to die.
He recounts that he has shared what he has wanted to share, and with a little space left to write, he says, "I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ." As I was studying Nephi's words, I noticed a promise. I've tried to make it a habit to look for promises in conference talks, and that has helped me to look for promises in the scriptures.
Why is understanding and implementing the doctrine of Christ in my life so important? Why would the Prophet Nephi want this doctrine to be the very last thing he shares with us in the Book of Mormon? I am sure there are many reasons, but as I read one particular reason and promise jumped out at me. I noticed the words quote, "speaking with the tongue of angels" as a promise for following the pattern laid out in the doctrine of Christ.
In second Nehi 31 13 Nephi shares about all the elements of the doctrine of Christ. I'm not gonna read the whole verse, but go look it up. There is a link in the episode description to that chapter, but at the end of this verse, he talks about receiving the Holy Ghost as a baptism of fire. And then he says this quote, "And then can ye speak with the tongue of angels and shout praises unto the holy one of Israel?"
The word "tongue" in this verse has a footnote that led me to the topic of Holy Ghost, Gifts of in the topical guide. The scriptures referenced in this topic and the topical guide reference many gifts of the spirit, not just speaking with the tongue of angels. So one of the scriptures in this section is First Corinthians chapter 12, and in this chapter, the apostle Paul is speaking to the Corinthians and he shares about the various gifts of the spirit.
In verse four, Paul says, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit." As I thought about this scripture, I came up with a personal, I interpretation that there are many spiritual gifts because we all need different gifts, but they all come from the same place. The Holy Ghost. If you have been confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, you have been given at least one spiritual gift.
Elder Orson Pratt, who was an apostle early on in the restoration, he was a member of the quorum of the Twelve apostles, and this is what he said, "Whenever the Holy Ghost takes up its residence in a person, it not only cleanses, sanctifies and purifies him in proportion as he yields himself to its influence, but also imparts to him some gift intended for the benefit of himself and others. No one who has been born of the spirit and who remains sufficiently faithful is left destitute of a spiritual gift."
You need to follow the pattern of the doctrine of Christ so you can have the gift of the Holy Ghost. Why? Because the Holy Ghost brings the exact spiritual gifts you need on your journey. Your gifts are not the same as my gifts, but your gifts are tailor made for you. Following the pattern of the doctrine of Christ is about more than just doing it.
It's about the power you'll receive to be able to keep going to endure to the end. Could it be that the gift of the Holy Ghost brings us more gifts, spiritual gifts that are made just for us? When we put the doctrine of Christ into our lives, we are co-creating our life with God, the doctrine of Christ, and specifically the element of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost ,allows him to come in and give us the gift he seeks to give us.
The gift of the Holy Ghost equips each of us with the exact spiritual gifts we need in our individual mortal journeys. I mentioned at the beginning of this episode that the gift of the Holy Ghost also shows us how to help others specifically how to help those who may struggle to feel the spirit due to mental health challenges or other reasons.
So let's go back to Paul. In first Corinthians 12 again, this time in verse seven, Paul says, "But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal." End quote. He then goes on in verses eight through 10 to list many spiritual gifts. Which that's not my purpose today. I'm not gonna cover all of those spiritual gifts in this episode, but I would invite you to go and read these verses on your own.
And there's other places in the scriptures where you can find lists of spiritual gifts. They're not an all-encompassing list, but Paul does give us a few here in, in First Corinthians. But then Paul goes on, remember we're in first Corinthians 12, and in verse 11 he tells us why spiritual gifts are necessary, "But all these worketh, that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will ." Again, here's my interpretation, it's that everyone has a gift so that we can share it.
And when we all share our gifts, we help each other. If you continue reading Paul's words in first Corinthians 12, he tells about how the church is like a body with many parts working together for the good of the whole body. In verses 12 through 14, Paul says, "For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being, many are one body so also is Christ for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit for the body is not one member but many." End quote. Then Paul goes on to explain how each part of the body is important. So you may have read this before, the foot isn't the hand and that's totally okay because the body needs both the foot and the hand, right?
And then in verses 23 through 26, Paul says this, "And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable upon these we be so more abundant honor and our uncommonly parts have more abundant comeliness for our comely parts have no need, but God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part, which lacked that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it." End quote.
Okay, so let me tie these two teachings up all together. First, when we are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, we are given unique spiritual gifts. We don't all have the same ones, and that is exactly how it's meant to be.
That is the plan. Our gifts are just for us to help us endure to the end. Then second, when we are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, we also become a part of Christ's church or the body of Christ. We bring those personal spiritual gifts we've been given to the table, and we use them to bless others.
When everyone in the body of Christ does this, we all rejoice together. Your spiritual gifts can be for your own benefit. They can help you on your journey on the covenant path, but spiritual gifts aren't only for yourself. We are given gifts through the gift of the Holy Ghost to help others and to participate in God's work, which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
The Holy Ghost is a great gift, but there are many among us who struggle to feel it. Sometimes sin can keep a person from feeling the spirit, but sin is not the only reason heaven may feel silent.
Mental illness or physical frailties may also contribute to not feeling the spirit. I have a few episodes on the podcast that center around not being able to feel the spirit due to mental health challenges. One episode is titled Silence and it's from October 21st, 2020, and another is called Finding Beauty in the Hard of Motherhood with Melinda Peterson, and that one's from March 27th, 2019.
I will link both of these episodes in the show notes as I think they totally relate to this topic, and I invite you to listen or re-listen to them as they will shed so much more light on not feeling the spirit due to mental health challenges. I personally have not struggled with depression or anxiety, but I have experienced it secondhand through people I love.
If you go back and listen to those episodes, you'll hear me talk in the one about silence, about someone really close to me that was struggling with this at the time that I was writing that episode and that person, at that time, I didn't feel like I could share it, but now I do feel like I could. And that person was my oldest daughter, and she was diagnosed during that time with depression and anxiety, and she was serving a mission at the time.
While she was in the field, she started therapy and medication and she continues with both of those today. She is very open about her ongoing struggles and as her mom, I'm super proud of her, the way that she confronts them and being so open and wanting to help other people. And so what I'm sharing with you about her is totally with her permission.
She doesn't shy away from sharing that this is a struggle that she has with mental health.
In the beginning of realizing the struggles my daughter faces my natural instinct as a mom was to come in and fix everything, but as I have sought the spirit and talked with her, I have realized that I was jumping straight to comforting and skipping right over mourning with her. As I've shared before in 2021, I was certified as a creation coach in Brooke Snow's Creation Coach School.
If you aren't familiar with Brooke, I highly recommend checking her podcast out. It's called the Brooke Snow Podcast, and I'll put a link in the show notes.
I recently attended a graduation event for a creation coach school where Brooke spoke and she shared something that made me think of my experience with my daughter and have helped me to understand better how I can bring the Holy Ghost to my daughter when she is not feeling it for herself. Brooke talked about how to mourn with those who mourn.
Now you may have heard that as part of, you know, what we covenant to do at baptism. I talked in a previous episode that at baptism we covenant to keep the commandments take upon us the name. Christ's name and serve him, right? We talked about that at the beginning of this episode too. Part of serving him includes mourning with those who mourn and comforting those that stand in need of comfort as Alma taught the people at the waters of Mormon who wanted to be baptized.
And you can find that in Mosiah 18, eight through nine. But at the at graduation event, Brooke shared how we often, with good intentions, Skip over the mourn with those who mourn step and jump right to comforting those who stand in need of comfort. But Brooke asserted that the order matters here. Mourning must come before comforting.
My daughter has expressed to me many times that she doesn't need me to fix anything. She struggles to fill the spirit due to her mental health challenges, and there is nothing I can do to fix that. But I can help bring the Holy Ghost to her when I truly seek to mourn with her. So what does mourning look like?
This is where the gift of the Holy Ghost can come in and help you know how to help someone else. In times when my daughter has been in a dark place, I have relied on the spirit to help me know how to help her. Rarely does the spirit prompt me with words to say. More often the spirit has prompted me to sit with her, to hold space and allow her to feel whatever she is feeling.
How can you help someone who is not feeling the spirit due to depression, anxiety, or some other challenge? You can mourn with them. What does that look like? Sit with them, hold space for them, help them name the emotions they're feeling, and then help them to know that the way they are feeling in that moment is okay.
Christ can take it. He can handle those in between parts, and it's totally okay wherever they are at. As I learned these things from Brooke, I realized that many times I had not been helpful to my daughter. I had spiritually bypassed her by saying things like, oh, you feel the spirit. You just don't recognize it, or You just need to pray, and then you'll feel it.
None of these things were helpful for her. Recently, in a Sunday school class I attended, a man shared how his son suffered from severe depression and struggled to feel the spirit. I have heard this man share about his son's suffering before, and his comments have caused me to think more deeply about how I can help those who struggle.
If you wanna help someone who is struggling to feel the Holy Ghost in their life, pray and ask the Holy Ghost to guide you to know how to mourn with them. Don't skip this step and jump straight to comforting like I have done so many times with my daughter.
Be there for them. Love them exactly where they are at and help them know you will always be there for them. Show love as a Savior would. If you are the one who feels blocked from the gift of the Holy Ghost due to mental health or another challenge, it's okay to seek professional help.
It doesn't mean you are broken or not praying enough or reading your scriptures enough. You are so loved by our heavenly parents and by our savior, and I pray that friends and family will be there for you and truly mourn with you.
The purpose of the doctrine of Christ is a pattern to lead us to the Savior. We exercise faith in him, repent and are baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost so that we can access the power of his atonement in our lives. The gift of the Holy Ghost has the power to sanctify us. Now, you know, I can't go an episode without quoting Elder Bednar, right?
I found another amazing talk from Elder Bednar that goes right along with this, and I'm gonna link it up in the show notes, but it's from the October, 2007 general conference, and it's called Clean Hands and a Pure Heart. Elder Bednar shared this, and he was quoting President Marion G. Romney in his talk, "President Marion G. Romney taught that the baptism of the fire by the Holy Ghost converts us from carnality to spirituality.
It cleanses, heals and purifies the soul. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance and water baptism are all preliminary and prerequisite to it, but the baptism of fire is the consummation. To receive the baptism of fire is to have one's garments washed in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ." End Elder Bednar also referenced the Savior's words in third Nephi 27, 19 through 20, and this is what Jesus said "And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom. Therefore, nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood because of their faith and the repentance of all their sins and their faithfulness until the end. Now, this is the commandment. Repent all the ends of the earth and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that you may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost. That ye may stand spotless before me at the last day."
End quote. I hope hearing some of my thoughts and applications about the gift to the Holy Ghost will help you to seek for your own. Use the scriptures and words of living prophets to study more about this element of the doctrine of Christ, and I'm confident the Holy Ghost will teach you what you need to know right now in your journey on the covenant path.
Thank you so much for being here. It is such a gift to me in my life to get to prepare these episodes and share them with you, and I truly hope that they help you. Next week I'll wrap up this series on The Doctrine of Christ by talking about enduring to the end.
I'll also be sharing soon about how you can access discussion guides to help you gather with your own friends and family and help each other do what our prophet has asked to gain a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ.