The author of the new hymn “Joyfully Bound,” released in the latest batch in “Hymns for Home and Church” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has a personal testimony of the joy of being bound to the Lord as covenant sons and daughters.
Several years ago, Anna M. Molgard was experiencing significant health challenges. Then she and her husband both faced financial setbacks when their small businesses were affected by the COVID-19 shutdowns.
Next, her husband had an accident and was unable to work for a while. Things felt like they kept compounding.
“The only place for many years actually that I felt any sense of measurable peace was when I was in the temple,” Molgard said.
She and her husband became diligent in their temple worship. Even though it didn’t make sense for them financially, they took Fridays off work to be ordinance workers in the Spokane Washington Temple, about a 45-minute drive from their home in Green Bluff, Washington.
“That gave us this moment of clarity and peace and reprieve,” she said. “And then we would go back to the reality of what we were dealing with. And it didn’t take away the challenges, but it gave us the strength to be able to manage what we were dealing with.”
Family history research brought them a feeling of connection to her ancestors. Accompanying them to the house of the Lord helped her realize she was enabling people on the other side of the veil to help her in her own life.
“I knew we needed the help of heaven. And as we did that work, I felt the help of heaven. I felt them helping my children. I felt them helping us. I felt them opening doors,” she said.
Her ward in Green Bluff was full “of the most humble, consecrated, amazing people.” Many had their own challenges with family or finances at the time, and their bishop — a “wonderful, humble and Christlike man” — had a leg amputated during a battle with cancer.
One day in sacrament meeting after this bishop was released, he spoke about his love for the Lord.
Molgard said, “As he started talking, this thought of being joyfully bound to the Savior just kept resonating through my mind and my heart because he had lived it so beautifully not only through his life but his ministry to our family.”
She pulled out her notebook and started writing as thoughts came to her mind through the Spirit — thoughts about how the covenant path includes baptism, repentance, partaking of the sacrament weekly and making covenants in the house of the Lord. And how in each step, people choose to be bound to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through covenant — which brings strength to withstand challenges and therefore brings “a covenant joy.”
The first verse of the hymn is based on Alma’s invitation to people gathered at the Waters of Mormon to be baptized as witnesses of their covenant with God. The chorus reflects their joyous acceptance (see Mosiah 18:8–11).
In the second verse, the song speaks of weekly partaking of the sacrament. And Verse 3 is about going to the temple to be armed with God’s power through covenant.
Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught in his October 2024 general conference address, “Welcome to the Church of Joy,” that there ought to be more joy in worship, and Molgard wanted this new song to be something that was happy to sing.
“I thought: What if the sacrament felt like this joyful celebration of ‘I get to be clean again, I get to experience this feeling of renewal’?”
When lyrics come to her mind, they always come with a tune, which is not always the case with composers. As she wrote these words on paper, she could hear the melody and chord structure in her mind. Her sister-in-law, Rachel Pettit Mohlman, with whom she has collaborated on many songs for years through their publishing company, took what Molgard had written and arranged the music.
While Molgard now lives in North Salt Lake, Utah, she named the tune of the hymn “Greenbluff” after her ward in Washington.
Molgard was humbled to learn that “Joyfully Bound” was selected for the new global hymnbook and that her testimony would be received and shared in such a unique way.
She hopes that if people don’t yet feel that joy, that they can go to the temple with a question in their heart or a prayer to Heavenly Father to help them understand.
“I know that He will, because He wants us to come to His house, and He wants us to feel the joy of that covenant relationship with Him.”
1. Come humbly to the waters
And in Christ be born anew.
Come make the Lord a promise;
Come rejoicing as you do.
Come mourn with those in mourning;
Comfort those who stand in need.
Come and stand as living witness
In your word and very deed.
We are joyfully, joyfully bound
By cov’nant to the Father!
Rejoice in the happy sound
As we raise our voices in praise!
We are joyfully, joyfully bound
By cov’nant to the Savior!
Rejoice and witness to all this day;
We are joyfully, joyfully bound!
2. Come meekly to His table
On each blessed Sabbath day.
Renew your sacred cov’nant
To receive His holy name.
We promise to remember
As we promise to obey;
Then we’ll always have His Spirit
To abide with us each day.
We are joyfully, joyfully bound
By cov’nant to the Father!
Rejoice in the happy sound
As we raise our voices in praise!
We are joyfully, joyfully bound
By cov’nant to the Savior!
Rejoice and witness to all this day;
We are joyfully, joyfully bound!
3. Come gladly to the temple
To receive God’s holy pow’r.
Come cov’nant with the Father;
Give your will to Him each hour.
Go forward armed with power,
With His name upon your heart;
And His angels will surround you,
With His glory round about.
We are joyfully, joyfully bound
By cov’nant to the Father!
Rejoice in the happy sound
As we raise our voices in praise!
We are joyfully, joyfully bound
By cov’nant to the Savior!
Rejoice and witness to all this day;
We are joyfully, joyfully bound!
