I had a whirlwind of the first weekend in May what with my son’s Shakespeare play for our homeschooling co-operative. The troupe of actors did three performances. My son did such an amazing job! He got to play Berowne for Love’s Labour’s Lost. Pics are here.

This is the end of an era as he is my baby. For 18 years now, since May of 2006, almost every single year, I’ve had at least one child involved with a homeschool co-op Shakespeare play in the spring. Usually after two years of being in a Shakespeare play the youth aren’t allowed to do it again so this is probably my son’s last year. At the end of the Saturday night performance, during the applause with all the young actors on stage, one of them announced that it was a birthday for one of the moms that day. We all sang “Happy Birthday” to her. It was May 4. How fun to share a birthday with Star Wars!

I had wanted to post something on that very day about it being May 4 with the old Star Wars pun of the day “May the Fourth be with you” but just didn’t have time. I’m a sort-of Star Wars fan from afar. True confessions, even though I’m a child of the 70s and 80s, I’ve only ever seen one of the movies, the first one, Episode 4. That groundbreaking movie, Star Wars, debuted when I was a little girl. I remember the craze about the movie from the start, especially the ensuing Halloween of 1977, with a friend donning a Princess Leia costume and side-bun hairstyle, and tons of other children dressing up as the droids. I appreciate the cultural impact of the movie series and its wondrous tale of heroism, but I have a hard time following plot lines of fantasy and science fiction stories/movies in general with strange names of people and places and action that has nothing relevant to reality. I was hardly able to sit through all of Episode 4 as an adult, after I finally got over the trauma of the trash compactor scene, which I tried to watch as a tween. I do appreciate, however, its epic story of good vs. evil. So as much as it has become cliche in saying on May 4, “May the Fourth/(Force) be with you!”, I’m repeating it again to launch into some old-fashioned preaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’m sure it’s no revelation to any Star Wars fan that “the Force” is goodness. When someone says, “May the force be with you” they mean “may goodness be with you.” It’s the same thing when someone says “Goodbye.” When that happens, that person is literally telling you “God be with you.” “Goodbye” is a contraction of “God be with you.” All good comes from God, so they are telling you “May goodness go with you.”

Moroni 7:16-17 of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ tells us:

16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

17 But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.

So Christ is the source of all that is good. He is the author of goodness. He is the Only Begotten Son of the Father in Heaven. He was born in Bethlehem, the promised Messiah of Isaiah’s prophecies in the Bible. He atoned for all of our sins and was crucified. Then he rose again with His spirit and body together, overcoming death. He doesn’t live on earth anymore, but He has sent the Holy Ghost to bear witness of Him and be with His followers. He is our pathway to heaven to live with God the Father again in eternal families.

If anyone wants God’s power that means keeping the Holy Ghost with you. The Holy Ghost allows one to tap into God’s knowledge, His power/force, and all His gifts. This is just such an amazing thought! One gets the Holy Ghost by following Jesus Christ and His example, including getting baptized by one who has authority, which is the first thing Jesus did when He started His ministry. Then one can have the Holy Ghost with him or her always by continuing to follow in Jesus’ steps and repenting and asking forgiveness for mistakes, moving forward and upward, with a brightness of hope in Christ for salvation (see 2 Nephi 31:20).

It’s just so cool that because of the Savior Jesus Christ coming to earth as Heavenly Father’s Only Begotten Son, each of us is able to receive Him as the intermediary between us and God the Father. Because of His atoning grace, we can be forgiven of our sins, be baptized, retain a remission of our sins with repentance, and have the Holy Spirit always with us. We can have the Holy Spirit with us before we are baptized occasionally but if we want the Spirit as a constant companion, we must be baptized.

I am fascinated by the truth that anyone can tap into God’s knowledge and know things He wants us to know, according to His will. We can know the things He wants us to know to build His kingdom, to help people as He would. He can transmit knowledge from our mind to other people’s minds to further his work. This is the Force! I have benefitted from this Force so many times!

From my own life, here are some examples of the Force/goodness/and most specifically the Holy Spirit being with me:

– Decades ago, my kitchen blender base broke, so I got a new one. I threw away the broken part of the old one but kept the blender pitcher/container with its lid since it was completely intact. The Holy Spirit told me, “Someone could use this, keep it.” Sure enough, just a few weeks later one of my girlfriends sent a pleading email out asking if anyone had a blender pitcher because hers just broke. I was so happy to say I had one and gift it to her!

-A few years ago, I was having an extremely rough day where I spent a lot of time crying. I desperately asked God for help, to send someone to help me. Just a few hours later, my ministering brother showed up on my doorstep. He asked if he could help with anything. He didn’t know the details of what was going on, but God did of course and inspired him to show up on my doorstep. I shared some details. He helped by commiserating with me, saying that he had had a similar problem.

-I put off going to the natural health foods store in my area and then finally went, days later than originally planned. I almost put the errand off again to do the next week, but the Spirit told me to go that day, at noon. While there, I got to see a dear friend I hadn’t seen in over 15 years! She gave me counsel for a problem I was dealing with that was very helpful. Only God could arrange such a meeting by the Holy Spirit speaking to me.

-I was having trouble dealing with someone in my life. The Holy Spirit gave me exact instructions on how to proceed in learning more about what this person was doing and how to deal with this person.

-I’ve had the Holy Spirit guide me in how and what to say to my husband and children to get us through tough situations.

– If you’ve read my blog for very long, you know how much I love thrift store shopping, as evidenced here and here. Sometimes, after I pick up an item, and I have it my cart, I have felt the Holy Spirit tell me to put it back. I have one checking account that I, unfortunately, don’t watch as closely as I should. (I’m getting better!) It doesn’t have a ton of money in it and I use it a lot for thrifting. Every time I have felt the Spirit tell me to put something back, it turns out later to be such a good thing. If I had bought the thing, I would have gone into the red because a monthly charge I forgot was coming came through a day or so later after the proposed purchase went through. Whew! I feel so blessed! I have avoided a problem by obeying the Holy Spirit.

-To continue with the topic of thrifting, I’ve felt the Holy Spirit guide me to sometimes stay away from the thrift store when I’m about to go, and then on other days, when I’ve told myself I don’t have time to go thrifting, I’ve felt the Holy Spirit tell me to go. Such was a day last winter. I had just dropped my son off to spend some time with his sister and his nephews playing in the snow at Forest School. I was going to head right back home, but the Holy Spirit told me to go inside the thrift store. I went ahead inside and looked around, silently praying, “OK God, what is it that you want me to find in here?” I looked at board games first, of course, but didn’t find anything, and then the books. Lo and behold, I found a book with pornography inside that I reported to an employee saying it should go to the trash. I didn’t leave until I saw the employee walk away with the book, hopefully, to throw into the garbage bin. During the same visit I also found a book for my close friend that I just knew she would be delighted to receive for her birthday. She was definitely delighted so that was so fun to give it to her. I had just seen the same book on Amazon for $20. I found it thrifting for only $2! This was definitely a fruitful, Spirit-led trip. Over here, I outline the story of my miracle in finding clothes for my daughter to wear at my son’s wedding a year ago. In the Summer of 2022 I found something I’d been looking for, the board game Moods, which is a great party game when you have the right crowd. The story is here. Then just this month, I was led again to go thrifting when I felt like I didn’t really have time. I was led to find a wonderful book full of family history research miracles that will help me in my calling as family history consultant. It’s the book below.

-I had some friction with some people who are close to me. We had different opinions. I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to apologize. Of course the “natural woman” in me didn’t really want to. I justified myself in saying that what I had done wasn’t wrong, I was just offering helpful advice because I care. But the Spirit worked on me, telling me that didn’t matter. The person felt hurt anyway, even if the hurt it wasn’t intentional on my part. So I apologized and felt so much better afterwards, with the air cleared between me and the family members.

I’m so grateful for the Holy Spirit and the Force/goodness that it brings from Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Here are some stories I’ve found lately that share more about people tapping into God’s force/goodness/power:

-In this story here, a woman was guided by the Holy Spirit to give a man ride home in a rainstorm, and then she gave him a bunch of gifts to him and his wife. In the end she was so grateful because she found out it was the man’s birthday.

-This story here tells of a woman involved in a bike and car collision that could have easily killed her if she had landed just inches in the path of the car’s tire. She had no way of letting her children know that she couldn’t pick them up from school, as was the usual routine, when she was whisked away to the hospital by an ambulance. This was in the days before cell phones when one had to search out a phone in a public place. She was hospitalized for hours with different tests to make sure she was OK. During the procedures she prayed to God, asking Him to let her children know that she was OK and not to worry, that she would be home soon. She was finally released to go home, very late at night. She arrived home to find her children safely waiting for her on their porch. The oldest child said that he heard a voice telling him that his mother had been delayed, that she would be home soon, and that he and his sister were to play while they waited. This is the power of the Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost can relay knowledge to people beyond the limits of man-made technology. So amazing!

I testify that the Holy Ghost is real. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead, along with Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost is a partner in all this goodness. You will feel the power of the Holy Ghost telling you Jesus is real as you read the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ with a sincere and honest heart. When you follow Jesus Christ, including getting baptized, you can have the gift of the Holy Ghost to be your constant companion. May the Force be with you!