Joy is a power we can experience through Jesus Christ that will help us endure the difficulties of a pandemic.
Just a couple of months before the world was shut down by the onset of COVID-19, Brigham Young University president Kevin J Worthen gave a devotional focused on joy. This message came to be very applicable in the following months. The year 2020 was full of loneliness, fear, turmoil, and anxiety for many people throughout the world.
Photo by Gaspar Uhas
President Worthen reminds us of the power of joy in our lives—a principle that our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, and many other Church leaders have taught us about recently. President Worthen says in his address, “Joy is the key to our spiritual survival in the trying times in which we live, as well as in the trying times that lie ahead of us.” For many people, those trying times came sooner than anyone could have imagined.
As a college student, I felt that a lot was taken away from me because of COVID-19: internships, study abroad programs, social gatherings, in-person classes, and so much more. As I focused on all that had been taken from me, I found it difficult to focus on joy.
President Worthen suggests that especially during trials, we should “come to view joy not just as a mental or emotional concept or feeling of comfort but as a principle of power—power to survive and thrive spiritually.”
When we view joy as a principle of power, we can endure the things that presently seem overwhelming, scary, unfair, or otherwise stressful. Rather than focusing on the challenging circumstances around us, let’s focus on accessing the power of joy—joy that’s accessible to each one of us through Jesus Christ.
To learn more about accessing the power of joy during difficult times, read Kevin J Worthen’s talk “Enduring Joy.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Rebecca Brown, Latter-day Saint Insights
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Find more insights
Take a look at President Russell M. Nelson’s talk “Joy and Spiritual Survival” to learn more about the power of joy in our lives.
Read Elder David A. Bednar’s talk “That They Might Have Joy” to understand more about God’s desire for us to have joy.
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