Elder Sean Douglas of the Seventy said in the Sunday afternoon session of October 2021 general conference:
You may never face a devastating physical hurricane. However, each of us has weathered and will weather spiritual hurricanes that threaten our peace and try our faith. In today’s world, they seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity. Thankfully, the Lord has provided us a sure way to joyfully overcome them. By living the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are assured that “when dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us and threaten our peace to destroy, there is hope smiling brightly before us.”2
President Russell M. Nelson explained:
“Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!
“… The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
“When the focus of our lives is on … Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives.”3
Just as natural laws govern physical hurricanes, divine laws govern how to feel joy during our spiritual hurricanes. The joy or misery we feel as we brave the storms of life is tied to the laws that God has set. President Nelson has shared, “They’re called commandments, but they are just as true as the law of lift, the law of gravity, [and] the law that governs the heartbeat.”
President Nelson continued, “It becomes a rather simple formula: If you want to be happy, keep the commandments.”4
Doubt is an enemy of faith and joy. Just as warm ocean water is the breeding ground for hurricanes, doubt is the breeding ground for spiritual hurricanes. Just as belief is a choice, so is doubt. When we choose to doubt, we choose to be acted upon, yielding power to the adversary, thereby leaving us weak and vulnerable.5
Satan seeks to lead us to the breeding ground of doubt. He seeks to harden our hearts so that we will not believe.6 The breeding ground of doubt can appear inviting because its seemingly peaceful, warm waters do not require us to “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.”7 In such waters Satan tempts us to relax our spiritual vigilance. That inattention can induce a lack of spiritual conviction, where we are “neither cold nor hot.”8 If we are not anchored on Christ, doubt and its allures will lead us away to apathy, where we shall find neither miracles, lasting happiness, nor “rest unto [our] souls.”9
Just as hurricanes weaken over land, doubt is replaced with faith as we build our foundation on Christ. We are then able to see spiritual hurricanes in their proper perspective, and our capacity to overcome them is enlarged. Then, “when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, … it shall have no power … to drag [us] down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which [we] are built, which is a sure foundation.”10
President Nelson has taught:
“Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all belief and the conduit of divine power. …
“The Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to His perfect power. But He does ask us to believe.”11
For Elder Douglas’ complete talk including working links, click. . . ‘Facing Our Spiritual Hurricanes by Believing in Christ’
