2011. “And He Went on His Way Rejoicing”: Mental Health and the Spirit of God By Roger Connors · June 3, 2022, from Meridian Magazine

 I have loved how Wilford Woodruff wrote "I went on my way rejoicing!"

“And He Went on His Way Rejoicing”: Mental Health and the Spirit of God 

By Roger Connors · June 3, 2022

As a mission president, you are constantly looking for ways to help missionaries cope with the anxiety and stress of life on a mission. While it can be incredibly rewarding, missionary work isn’t easy—particularly when life provides a surprise like a worldwide pandemic that literally increases the difficulty of missionary life in an instant. Add to that the normal challenges of mental and physical health that manifest at this age and the need becomes even clearer: mental health isn’t something you can just assume, it’s something you have to develop and maintain.[1]

I remember being quite amazed at the missionary life of Wilford Woodruff. He participated in the difficult march with Zion’s camp, then chose to stay in Missouri to do missionary work. He was an amazing missionary, serving several missions that eventually took him to England, among other places. Of course, as a missionary, he encountered a multitude of challenges and adversities.

I used to read Wilford Woodruff’s stories to the missionaries in zone conference because he was so relatable—he knew missionary life! One story, in particular, seemed to sum it up for him. Traveling on foot 40 miles a day, he and his companion faced many challenges with dangerous wild animals, difficult terrain, and hunger (to name a few). Then, one day Elder Woodruff was stopped by a sharp pain in his knee triggered by wading knee-deep in a muddy swamp. His companion, who felt he couldn’t take it anymore, suddenly decided to leave and return home, right then and there. He’d had it. Elder Woodruff was left to himself, injured, and sitting alone in an alligator swamp.

Then, he writes afterward in his journal, “I knelt down and prayed, and the Lord healed me, and I went on my way rejoicing.”[2] That phrase, “I went on my way rejoicing” is found repeated throughout Elder Woodruff’s journal—it’s one important way he dealt with setbacks, disappointments and challenges he encountered. He was blessed with a high degree of emotional resilience. He looked at the challenges as opportunities to either show the Lord his determination to serve Him or as an opportunity to have the Lord manifest His power to help him.

Each of us have to take a similar journey in facing our challenges and finding strength in the Lord to overcome them. Sometimes, our expression of faith is not enough to overcome the pressing feeling of burden and we need additional resources to help, like professional counseling, medication and other supports.

I share an excerpt from my upcoming book that I think speaks to this well.

“I recall speaking with a good friend and faithful Church member about all the blessings we can receive from the Holy Ghost, and he had quite a strong reaction. He said, ‘I rarely, if ever, experience these blessings. Because of that, it appears the only option is to beat myself up over not being good enough, not being ‘perfect’ enough to have the privilege of these blessings.

“In answer, I would emphasize that there are a lot of other reasons as to why we may not feel we are experiencing the blessings of the Holy Ghost. I’m sure there are many who have felt, or may feel now, this sense of ‘spiritual numbness’ and do not feel they enjoy the blessings of this companionship.

“Spiritual numbness can be the result of many different factors:

• Not obeying the commandments.
• Lack of understanding around how the Spirit speaks to you.
• Experiencing anxiety or depression, and the side effects of the ‘mood-moderating medications’ used to treat them.
• Challenging burdens that are almost too much to handle, like OCD, ADHD, personality disorders, or learning disabilities.
• Extreme fatigue.
• Mental or physical illness.
• Not forgiving yourself or others.
• Overwhelming stress.
• Comparing to others or feeling we’ve been dealt an unfair hand.
• Anger with others or even God.
• A sense of being preoccupied or just plain old ‘busyness.’
• Feeling a sense of frustration that God isn’t listening.
• Or perhaps worst of all—feeling that God doesn’t care for you personally, so has sent His Spirit to help those “He likes more.” (Of course, the scriptures teach us that God is no respecter of persons, so this one can’t be right, even if one happens to feel this way.)

“The list could easily keep going. We all have periods of time when the distractions and challenges of life can make it difficult to enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost; some feel this more intensely than others.”

“When we go on overload with anxiety and/or depression, or any of the items listed above, it can become difficult or even impossible for us to feel and identify the companionship of the Holy Ghost. The Church website, under ‘Mental Health,’ states, ‘Anxiety is loud and obnoxious, so to speak, making it difficult to feel the Spirit and depend on your faith. Faith is trust in God. The opposite of faith is uncertainty and mistrust. Is it any wonder that anxiety disorders often undermine faith?”[3]

Recent resources provided by the Church are amazingly helpful. The course, “Finding Strength In the Lord: Emotional Resilience” in the Self-Reliance program provides timely and useful advice on how to deal with some of life’s challenges.[4] The workbook is fantastic! The discussion groups offered in local stakes can be quite effective in offering helpful support. Raising this topic as a legitimate area of focus and discussion at work, home and church is essential in our day and age.

Every week, I read of new studies that show how anxious the rising generation is. Just a few days ago came this report, “Seventy percent of U.S. public schools have reported an increase in students seeking mental health services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released Tuesday. More than three-quarters (76%) of public schools also reported an increase in concerns from staff regarding their students’ depression, anxiety and trauma since the coronavirus pandemic began.”[5]

Another report reads, “After a downward trend in suicide rates through 2007, suicide among female youth showed the greatest increase.  The suicide rate for youth aged 10–14 declined from 200 (1.5 per 100,000 persons) to 2007 (0.9), and then nearly tripled from 2007 to 2017 (2.5).”[6]

Working on your mental health, along with physical and spiritual health, is important. It’s time that the discussions about mental health become transparent, frequent and accepted—at home and at church. There should be no stigma associated with reaching out on mental health. God wants us to bring to bear every possible solution, just as with physical health, to heal and help, so that everyone might have the strength to face their challenges and, as Elder Wilford Woodruff, “go on their way rejoicing.”

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[1] Fifty percent of mental illness begins by age 14, and three-quarters begins by age 24. https://psychiatry.org/patients-families/warning-signs-of-mental-illness

[2] https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/go-on-your-way-rejoicing-elder-rasband-tells-missionaries-worldwide-in-online-devotional

[3] Divine Patterns: Seeking the Blessings of Heaven, Roger Connors, to be published by Deseret Book September 5, 2022.

[4] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/ldsorg/topics/self-reliance/Emotional-Self-Reliance-Manual-new.pdf?lang=eng

[5] “According to data collected between April 12 and April 25 by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES).” https://www.foxnews.com/us/schools-increase-student-mental-health-treatment-covid

[6] https://womensmentalhealth.org/posts/in-brief-suicide-rate-triples-in-young-girls/