Comforting with the Comforter

In President Henry B. Eyring's General Women's Meeting talk, The Comforter, he spoke of the general struggles people experience in life and of our desire to help others.

The burdens His faithful servants must carry in life are made lighter by His Atonement. The burden of sin can be taken away, but the trials of mortal life for good people can still be heavy burdens.

You have seen such tests in the lives of good people you love. You have felt a desire to help them. There is a reason for your feeling of compassion for them.

You are a covenant member of the Church of Jesus Christ. A great change began in your heart when you came into the Church. You made a covenant, and you received a promise that began changing your very nature.

The covenant that President Eyring was referring to is found in Mosiah 18: 8-9, in which Alma the Elder offered baptism to those who were willing to "bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light," "to mourn with those that mourn," and "comfort those that stand in need of comfort."

That is why you have a feeling to want to help a person struggling to move forward under a load of grief and difficulty. You promised that you would help the Lord make their burdens light and be comforted. You were given the power to help lighten those loads when you received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is often spoken of as "the Comforter," but it's not the only one. When we have the Spirit with us and we reach out in genuine love for others, we can carry the Spirit to their hearts, bringing the Comforter to them. In that way, we ourselves become comforters. Though it's impossible for us to know exactly how others feel or what would be best to say to them or do for them, God knows. God is intimately familiar with everybody's pains and struggles, and He knows how to alleviate them. When we follow the guidance of His Spirit, we can be inspired to know what to say and how to help. Through the gift of the Comforter, we can assist the Lord in blessing others, just as we have been blessed by the presence of His Spirit.

Compassion is a gift from God. It may even be a "Gift of the Spirit." And it's through the Gift of the Holy Ghost that we are able to more capably act on our desire to comfort others. God sent us His Spirit to comfort us, but He also sent it to help us learn how to comfort each other.