Chapter 4 --Living joyfully in troubling times

Quick announcement: Date change...This will be on the 25th of Feb. – Appetizer Recipe Exchange 6:30 -8 At Paula Taylor’s House.

Chapter 4 – Living Joyfully in Troubling Times

“Happiness here and now consists in freely, lovingly, joyfully acknowledging God’s will for us—and doing it in all ways and all affairs big and small."

This lesson teaches us a wonderful aspect --- JOY!! Sometimes we get so focused on our problems, trials, and tribulations that we can't even imagine being happy, truly happy. I am sure you have heard the phrase accentuate the positive!

In John 10:10, Satan tries to steal our happiness. However, the Savior wants us to not be happy but have "abundant" happiness. Embrace the good things! Let go of the bad, and fill your life with wonderful things--happy things.

We all have our own trials. It gets boring being down. Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and we should be happy.

President Benson shared an example of optimism near his home.  He said: “I remember attending a meeting near Bancroft, Idaho. … We’d had a wonderful meeting, and after it was over, I was greeting some of the wonderful farmers who were there, and among them was a man by the name of Brother Yost, and I said, ‘Brother Yost, how are things out on the farm?’ Brother Yost said, ‘Oh, things are fine, Brother Benson, but I’m about 20 thousand dollars worse off than I was three days ago.’ I said, ‘What’s the matter—another frost?’ He said, ‘Yes, it hit the wheat just in the dough stage, and you know what that means.’ He said, ‘We’re starting the mowing machines in the morning, but everything’s all right. We’ve still got a little wheat in the bin, and we’ve got at least part of our year’s supply laid away. We’re not going to starve, and there’ll be another crop.’ As we left him, I said to my wife, ‘What a wonderful spirit.’

“We drove on down to Logan [a city in Utah, about 80 miles, or 130 kilometers, from Bancroft]. We had our children with us, and we stopped on Main Street to go into a grocery store to pick up a few cookies for the kiddies. And who should I meet on the sidewalk but Brother Yost. I said, ‘Well, what are you doing way down here?’ He said, ‘Brother Benson, it’s our day to go to the temple.’ And I said, ‘Well, reverses don’t dampen your spirits any, do they?’ Then he taught me a lesson. He said, ‘Brother Benson, when reverses come we need the temple all the more.’

 

President Benson says, "We will all have disappointments and discouragements—that is part of life. But if we will have faith, our setbacks will be but a moment and success will come out of our seeming failures. Our Heavenly Father can accomplish miracles through each of us if we will but place our confidence and trust in Him."

 

Our trust in Him is important because with that we CAN make it through our trialing times.

 

When George A. Smith was very ill, he was visited by his cousin, the Prophet Joseph Smith. The afflicted man reported: “He [the Prophet] told me I should never get discouraged, whatever difficulties might surround me. If I were sunk into the lowest pit of Nova Scotia and all the Rocky Mountains piled on top of me, I ought not to be discouraged, but hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I should come out on the top of the heap.” …

 

There are times when you simply have to righteously hang on and outlast the devil until his depressive spirit leaves you. As the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 

“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.” (D&C 121:7–8.)

 

President Benson explains to us how we can enjoy the troubling times that may surface. He said that happiness must be earned from day to day. But, it is worth the effort.

 

However, your effort and your attitude determines whether you will be happy or not. Only you are in charge of your happiness.

 

President Benson gives his council in how to be happy. He says, "Be cheerful in all that you do. Live joyfully. Live happily. Live enthusiastically, knowing that God does not dwell in gloom and melancholy, but in light and love."

 

He gives some great advice and that to live perfectly is to live happily. To live happily is to grow in spiritual strength toward perfection.

This is what life is all about! Be happy and if you are not ...well.. I have a scripture for you. It is in D & C 136:29 and it says, "If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful." That means to pray with all your might until you are happy.