I hope as you read you will find it to be faith building and encourage you to focus your life even just a bit more on Christ.

I once was asked to speak in my church and was given the topic of “We can be cheerful and find joy by following Jesus Christ.” I’ve always enjoyed preparing talks for church because it gives me an opportunity to dive a bit deeper into the gospel of Jesus Christ. Plus, I just learn more by writing.

After I gave my talk and the meeting concluded, one of the members of the congregation came up and thanked me for the message I shared. He then asked if he could have a copy of my talk! I was shocked and humbled. He wanted to read through it again on his own. So, I gave him my hard copy since I type my talks out word for word (I’m not a fan of speaking off the cuff). He thanked me again and walked away.

So, I thought I’d share my talk through my blog. I’ve made some additions and adjustments so as to fit this medium. I hope as you read, you will find it to be faith building and encourage you to focus your life even just a bit more on Christ.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you want to learn more about what I believe, visit ComeUntoChrist.org or ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Or send me a message and I’d love to answer your questions and share more!

3 THINGS WE CAN DO TO BE CHEERFUL AND FIND JOY BY FOLLOWING JESUS CHRIST

In his October 2016 General Conference address “Joy and Spiritual Survival”, President Russell M. Nelson said…

“The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.”
President Russel M. Nelson, Oct. 2016, “Joy and Spiritual Survival”

With that in mind, I wanted to share three things we can do to be cheerful and find joy by following Jesus Christ.

Change your mindset toward challenges
Be intentional about creating time and space to hear God’s voice
Set goals, make plans, take action

CHANGE YOUR MINDSET TOWARD CHALLENGES

This section is a little bit longer than the others because there is so much that can go into this. One way we can change our mindset toward challenges is to do what Paul asked of us in Philippians 4:8.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are ^atrue, whatsoever things are ^bhonest, whatsoever things are ^cjust, whatsoever things are ^dpure, whatsoever things are ^elovely, ^fwhatsoever things are of good report; if there be any ^gvirtue, and if there be any praise, ^hthink on these things.
Philippians 4:8

As we practice these attributes Paul lists in our daily life, it can help us find joy in our circumstances. We can look for and choose to see the good. Often this requires a mindset shift. Especially toward challenges.

THE MINDSET SHIFT

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I asked my family through the Marco Polo app to share their thoughts. I asked them to name some things they do to follow Christ and how that brings joy into their lives.

One of my sisters responded and said my question was quite ironic because her boys were fighting. She half jokingly and half seriously said,

“We fight. That’s the best way we draw closer to Christ because then we have to go through the process of repentance and forgiveness. So, we try to fight at least on a daily basis. If not hourly or every 30 mins. Because then we get to remember our Savior even more.”

And this, while kind of funny, sparked a conversation.

Another sister responded and shared she felt that the things we do to handle life or the challenges of mortality (kids fighting, disagreements with spouses, illness, you name it) is how we can follow Christ and find joy. She said…

“Because we have the gospel and knowledge of Christ and His atoning sacrifice, we can use that in the way we approach contention and to do it through the lens of Christ.”

Another sister (there’s five of us), added to this.

She shared that as a mom, she could either react and get frustrated too. Or she could slow down, and approach her kids calmly.

“It’s about living life and having those experiences of trials, challenges, fights, arguments, and then resolving them in a Christ-like way. That is what can bring the spirit and heal the relationship or problem. The problem may not go away and it is easier said than done, but it has increased our strength and reliance on Heavenly Father because of the way we’ve dealt with it.”

These challenges, trials, or arguments we have in our personal life and relationships with others can be seen as something Satan is doing to further us from Christ. BUT we can choose to approach these challenges in a way that actually can bring us closer to Christ.

GRATEFUL IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE

photo of women hugging each other — Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

Another great way to change our mindset toward challenges is to be grateful.

In his talk, Grateful in Any Circumstance, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said this…

“But some might say, ‘What do I have to be grateful for when my world is falling apart?’
Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count.
True, it is important to frequently ‘count our blessings’—and anyone who has tried this knows there are many—but I don’t believe the Lord expects us to be less thankful in times of trial than in times of abundance and ease. In fact, most of the scriptural references do not speak of gratitude for things but rather suggest an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.
Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.”
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2014 – Grateful in Any Circumstance,

I love that subtle mindset shift from being grateful for things to being grateful in our circumstances.

That concept can be hard to do sometimes. But I think it becomes easier as we work toward shifting our mindset toward challenges and how we approach what may or may not be happening in life.

That accepting the good, the bad, and the in between is just part of the human experience. That we will experience pain and discomfort and that’s ok!

A good friend of mine shared with me a thought from a book called High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. He says…

“If we keep telling people to do what’s easy, why would they ever think to do what’s hard?….We are surrounded by memes and media and influencers telling us we are not supposed to struggle, that life should just be an easy flow or we’re on the wrong track. Imagine what that’s doing to our abilities. Imagine what that is doing to our odds of ever taking courageous action.”

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This really struck me because everything that has ever given me ACTUAL joy and ACTUAL gratification – has been hard! Yet, time and time again we are fed messages of ease and luxury.

In a time where everything is at our finger tips and we can access information in a blink of an eye, we may begin to develop an avoidance of things that are hard and take time. We avoid challenges and questions God’s love for us when we face trial after trial.

Now, we may not understand the reason of particular trials or hard things, BUT as we lean on Christ and we can say as Paul did, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)

THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE OF A MINDSET SHIFT

Jesus Christ changed His mindset toward the greatest challenge in the world. When he knelt down at the Mount of Olives to atone for all of mankind’s sins, He asked his Father…

“if thou be willing, ^aremove this cup from me: nevertheless not my ^bwill, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

He knew it would be hard. He knew this would be the greatest triumph and challenge faced. Yet, He shifted His mindset toward this challenge to something some would say is impossible in the face of such anguish.

Joy.

President Nelson taught this concerning this mindset shift…

“Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy brings God’s power into our lives. As in all things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.”¹⁷
Think of that! In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!
And what was the joy that was set before Him? Surely it included the joy of cleansing, healing, and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and me to return home—clean and worthy—to live with our Heavenly Parents and families.
If we focus on the joy that will come to us, or to those we love, what can we endure that presently seems overwhelming, painful, scary, unfair, or simply impossible?”

So, that’s number one, we can be cheerful and find joy by following Christ as we change our mindset toward challenges.

BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT CREATING A TIME AND SPACE TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE

This point I pulled from the talk Spiritual Capacity By Michelle Craig. But really multiple speakers during General Conference touched on this topic and it really stood out to me as a way to find joy by following Christ.

Sister Craig says this, “Just imagine what would happen if we were as intent on staying connected with heaven as we are on staying connected to Wi-Fi! Pick a time and place, and listen for God’s voice every day. And keep this sacred appointment with exactness, for so very much depends on it!”

This is something I’ve been working on and I’m not the best at it, but I find it is so important to protect my time and when I do, I’m happier and more productive. There’s a podcast I listen to and she talks about the need to protect your family time, work time, me time, and I would add spiritual time (as sister Craig said) where we can connect with heaven and gain the spiritual nourishment we need. President Nelson has touched on this time and time again that we need to increase our spiritual capacity to receive revelation and we can not do that if we don’t create a time and space to do so.

Elder Stephen W. Owen shared a story about feeding deer hay in the winter and most of them died with their bellies full. The hay did not give them the nourishment they needed. Elder Owen then said,

“Many of the messages that bombard us in the information age are the spiritual equivalent to feeding hay to deer. We can eat it all day long, but it will not nourish us….We must DELIBERATELY take time each day to disconnect with the world and connect with heaven….The adversary will try to persuade you that spiritual nourishment isn’t necessary or more cunningly that it can wait. He is the master of distraction and author of procrastination.”

photo of eyeglasses on top of the book — Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

I know that this is one of the greatest challenges I face and probably many of us face when it comes to connecting with God. I’ll be sitting down to read scriptures during Hazel’s nap time and bing! My phone will go off. I’ll have a bunch of notifications that pop up. Or I’ll all of a sudden remember a bunch of things I need to get done for my job. And it can be so hard to fight that temptation to just start going down my list of to dos. Or getting lost down the rabbit hole of social media, TV shows, video games, ESPN, or even just our to do list.

But really, those things can wait! Just as Elder Owen said Satan is so good and gets us to believe that our spiritual nourishment can wait! But the truth is, it can’t. Not if we want to be more spiritually prepared in these last days and truly find joy.

So, that’s number two. We can be cheerful and find joy by following Christ as we are intentional about creating time and space to hear God’s voice.

SET GOALS, MAKE PLANS, TAKE ACTION

This one is pretty simple. It is a perfect format of ways we can be cheerful and find joy through Christ. Christ in fact was a great example of this. In Luke 2:52 it says,

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52)

Christ increased in wisdom and stature. Increased means to “become or make greater in size, amount, intensity, or degree.” Even He, the greatest of us all, focused on becoming. Growing. Learning.

The program for children and youth in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, encourages youth to create goals and plans to develop in four areas. Intellectually, spiritually, socially, and physically. We can all set goals, make plans, and take action in these areas.

President Nelson said this about the program, “We are inviting you to counsel with the Lord about how you can grow in a balanced way….You can do hard things.”

I know that our Heavenly Parents and our Savior wants us to be cheerful and find joy during our time on earth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about growth and progression along the covenant path. We have faith, we repent, we are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end through keeping our baptisimal covenants and receiving more covenants in the temple.

Setting goals, making plans, and taking action is a way we can be intentional in following Jesus Christ and progress along the covenant path. Thus, we can be cheerful and find joy as we do so.