I shared the story of one of my best friends from high school, her name is Kelsey. She isn't a member of the church, but she is one of the most sincere and thoughtful and loving people I know.
We had just turned 16, so we just got our driver's licenses. One day she was driving to school and she was stopped at an intersection, preparing to turn left. The light turned green, and no one was in the intersection so normally she should have just gone and turned left. However, she didn't. She felt like she should just wait a minute. Right when she decided she should probably go, a car came ZOOMING down the intersection in the opposite direction, running the red light. If she would have turned left, it would have crashed right in to her and she could have been seriously hurt.
Later she came to me, told me the story, and knowing what I believe asked why that happened to her; why she didn't just turn left. It was an opportunity for me to share with her about the Holy Ghost and how in feeling like she should wait, she felt a prompting from the Holy Ghost to protect her and keep her safe.
We are all children of our Heavenly Father, and He loves us and wants us to be safe and happy. He is watching over us, and through the Holy Ghost, He can talk to us and let us know His will. The key is to know how the Holy Ghost talks to us. Some people feel a warm, peaceful feeling. Some people hear a still, small, voice. In Galatians 5:22-23 it says "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
In Kelsey's case, she felt a feeling inside her that she needed to wait. I also need to mention that there is a difference between feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost, which she did, and have the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which can only come after being baptized by the proper authority, and then receiving it by the laying on of hands.
Teach your children how to feel the Holy Ghost. After we sang the closing song at the baptism, I watched this little girl's Primary teacher come up to her and hold her hands as she asked her how she felt. She said "good, happy" and her teacher taught, "That's the Holy Ghost." Once our children can recognize HOW they feel the Holy Ghost, they will be able to seek it more and more and it will be a guiding influence for good in their lives forever.
(For more about this read chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel- it is titled, "Recognize the Spirit.")
