Lea will be 8 in a few weeks. Daniel and I had a talk with her about her choice to be baptized or not. She asked "It's a choice?" We explained that yes it is a choice. We followed the scripture in Moses 6:57 which says, "Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence." We explained the purpose of Jesus Christ is to be our Savior - to save us from our sins so that we can be made clean to enter in our Heavenly Father's presence in the next life. If we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and follow His commandments we can be made clean through baptism and repentance. The 4th article of faith for our church states that "The first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, second, repentance, third baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." We also talked about prayer and how we can pray to our loving Father in Heaven to know if a decision we want to make is right. Lea told us that she wanted to think about getting baptized and pray about it. We encouraged her to do so and we told her to let us know when she had made her decision. We had a family prayer and sent the kids off to bed. Daniel went to a boy scout meeting at that point and I went into my room to get pj's on and get comfy for the night. A little while later Lea came into my room and with a big smile she said, "Mom, it's a YES!" She was glowing. I hugged her and asked her about her experience. She explained that as she was praying she felt a warm feeling that spread all the way down her body. I told her that was the feeling of the Spirit. A minute later, Jonah came in with a solemn face to say that he had prayed to know if he should get baptized and he wanted to know what it meant when he started to get a little itchy and a warm feeling. He asked if that was Heavenly Father saying yes or no. I told him having a warm, tingly and good feeling means you are making the right choice. And he smiled real big and his eyes were excited as he exclaimed "He said yes!?!" Jonah was so happy. I was truly humbled by these individual and precious experiences that my beautiful children had feeling the wonderful goodness of the Holy Ghost and experiencing an answer to their prayers. It was awesome that they have such pure faith that they received immediate answers to their prayers. This experience for me strengthened my testimony of Jesus' teachings when he said to "become as little children" (Matthew 18:3). I am inspired by the pure faith and desire to do what's right in my precious children. I also love the simple yet powerful way that we receive confirmation from the Holy Ghost of Gospel principles.
"Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." Alma 32:28
This was a very special experience with my treasured children and I am so happy for the righteous desires of their hearts. I love them so much!
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