Joy Is Not the Absence of Pain By Darla Isackson Years ago I attended a BYU education week talk by songwriter and speaker Deanna Edwards on the subject of grief. The main thing I remember about her presentation are the words: “Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God.” At the time, I wasn’t sure I fully understood what she meant. Still, the truth of the idea entered my heart in a powerful way—maybe because I was going to need it so much. A few months later my stake president was visiting with me at the hospital; my spouse had been critically injured in a plane crash. He said something like, “I was worried, but now I know you will be all right, because I can feel that the Comforter is here.” Ahhh! That explained why this hard thing that had brought so much pain was, at the same time, a spiritual high. Up until that time I had had a great fear that I wouldn’t be able to hold up under tragic circumstances. I simply hadn’t known that in the very moment of need, the Lord is there. Ever since, some of my most spiritual experiences have come at the saddest, most painful times in my life. Feeling God’s Love in the Toughest of Times How does that work? It works because when our need is great and we turn to God, along with the help comes an assurance of His love, which is “the most desirable above all things. . . and the most joyous to the soul” (see 1 Nephi 11:22-23). I suspect it is impossible to feel the Spirit, without feeling at least an inkling of God’s love--and there is nothing more joyous than that. When we feel His presence and His love, all is well, no matter if the world is turning topsy-turvy. Without it, there is no true joy, regardless of how “favorable” our outward circumstanced may be. That is why the oft-quoted words of the elderly man who came across the plains with the Martin handcart company make sense: “We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives, for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities . . . Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay.” Is any price too high for the blessing of “becoming acquainted” with God and feeling His love and caring? “We became acquainted with Him in our extremities” . . . what a thought-provoking phrase. I’ve now lived long enough and gained sufficient perspective to recognize the great gifts of feeling His love and intervention in my life in my darkest hours. For example, I will be eternally grateful for spiritual strength I’ve received as I have struggled with the difficult consequences of divorce. Would I have chosen that trial ahead of time? Hardly. At least not with my limited mortal perspective. But would I now trade the spiritual lessons I’ve learned or the absolute testimony I’ve gained of God’s loving concern for all of us in order to be spared that pain and sorrow? No, I would not. Afflictions “Swallowed Up in the Joy of Christ” Down the road a bit, it seems that most of us feel that whatever it takes to open our hearts to Christ is worth it. “Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God”—feeling His Spirit in any way. So many times, our afflictions can literally be swallowed up in the joy of spiritual closeness to the Lord. In Alma 31, verse 38 we read: “yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith (emphasis added).” Their afflictions were not removed, but were “swallowed up in the joy of Christ." I can’t think of a better blessing. I think the joy of Christ has a lot to do with His perfect empathy. He is the only one who really understands, who can strengthen with His enabling power to do that which we could never do on our own. (See “Grace” Bible Dictionary, 697) Brigham Young said: “You that have not passed through the trials and persecutions and drivings, with this people, from the beginning, but have only read of them, or heard some of them related, may think how awful they were to endure, and wonder that the Saints survived them at all. :-) Sorry, the web link to this talk is no longer active...
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 14:43:01 +0000
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