What brings joy?

How can the gospel be the thing that brings us the MOST joy?
I've had the gospel in my heart all of my life. I have done all that was asked, to the best of my abilities. I gave all I could, expecting nothing. It wasn't until recently that I have felt the MOST joy and sorry to say, I am not living the gospel as I should. I have felt joy while in the church. I do not discount the truthfulness or happiness that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. I can not imagine my life without my Heavenly Father included. At some point I do have a strong desire to reincorporate the gospel in my life but I am not ready yet.

At church one of the leaders said "Depression comes from not following the Lord." This I do not agree with. I am not following the Lord completely now and yet my depression is at a minimum. I have gone in and out of serious depression for much of my life and during those times I was following the Lord, sometimes to the extent of exactness. I do believe that aspects of the gospel can alleviate depression but I do not think it is a direct sign of not following the Lord. Listening to the Lord can give you greater blessings, but life is not black and white, cut and dry. Wicked have evil horrible lives and righteous have joyful good lives.

Another comment that actually had me pretty upset was this one. "You may not get second chances in the times that we live now." I wasn't the only one either. I will not ever believe that a loving Heavenly Father will have a time in which He chooses to leave us in sorrow. We make a bad choice and want to turn our lives around, there is always room for repentance.

Leaning on the Lord's Justice is a hindrance. The adversaries most valuable tool is in causing us to discount mercy and feel that we are worthless and unsaveable. Everyone is of worth and the laws of mercy apply to us all no matter how much worse we feel our lives or decisions are than others. We all willingly commit sin, to different degrees, and still the laws of mercy apply. There is always a way and that way is through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Are you emotionally and socially in balance? How about spiritually? (this is a good question to ask yourself every once in a while.

We all make mistakes. It's what we do after the mistake that's important.


These are simply some thoughts that came into my mind from church last Sunday.