The Power to Convince

Earlier this week, Vladimir, one of the young men who works in our law office, gave a devotional message to start off our day, as someone does every day. Vladimir and I share a special relationship. He and I have had some very good discussions contrasting life in Russia and America. He is very bright, he has a quick wit and can never just let a sleeping dog lie!! When we engage in our discussions, we don't really contend, but we often end up on opposite sides of the fence. He has a curious way of explaining his points of view that Sister Shepard and I find quite charming.

As I listened to his thoughful discourse on family history, I was impressed at how aligned we are on gospel topics. His beliefs are really my beliefs. You might say that we are synchronized!! I began to think about some of the other discussions that we have had in the past and began to question, how we could see things so differently.

Then the answer occurred to me, as I began to think back to a time before I was a member of the church. I remember teasing a young girl in my Spanish class in college about her religion. Not to hurt her (she was much too sweet and kind) but just to have some fun. She was quite a bit more mature than I was at the time. She listened to my outrageous statements with much grace and aplomb, before she sat me down to try to respond to some of the issues I was having with her religion. I spoke to her as if I was some kind of authority on her religion, that was, at the time, just as much an enigma to me, as Russia was to Churchill. She, like me and Vladimir, were not going to agree on most of the topics we discussed. Today, however, if she and I were to meet again, we would find that her beliefs are really my beliefs. You would say that we were synchronized! She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

As members of the church, we know that the power of convincing lies in the Holy Ghost. By the power of the Holy Ghost we may know the truth of all things. We must rely on the Holy Ghost if we are going to move the church forward. It means we must submit to the will of our Heavenly Father. We will not be successful, unless we confess that this is his work and it is to be done his way. Great oratory will not accomplish his objectives. Submitting to the power to the Holy Ghost will. On that point, Vladimir and I are in complete agreement!!