Hope is Always an Option...

There are times in our lives where we are at a complete loss. Everything that can go wrong in our lives probably has. We think we have hit rock bottom, and there is nowhere to go. Maybe we have just broken up with someone, a friend has decided not to be a friend anymore, someone we love has passed away, school and work are to stressful to happen, or we’ve been given a sickness/disease that will just not leave us alone… Then there are the feelings we have, depression, loss, sorrow, anxiety, anger, loneliness, and hopelessness…

I guarantee that every single person around you, at one point or another, has felt a complete loss of hope. You don’t feel like anything can get better, and there is no hope. I PROMISE you that we have all felt this way at some point in our life. Usually we are going through a trial of such a magnitude we have never before experienced.

 

I am NO stranger to this experience, just like all of you. Several years ago I believed I had hit rock bottom. I didn’t think that life could get any better, and I stopped caring about life at all. I also didn’t really think I had anyone to turn to. But then a friend of mine changed my views and feelings, simply by passing me a note.

To this day, this note has remained in my scriptures. These simple words gave me the strength I needed to keep going, and keep looking forward. My friend HOPED I was doing well. She also HOPED I knew that she cared about me. Sometimes when we don’t have hope for ourselves, we can pull from the hope that others have for us.

But what is hope? And how can we retain a feeling of hope when we are going through the hardest trials in our lives? Steven E. Snow, in the April 2011 Conference, shared the following about hope: “Hope is an emotion which brings richness to our everyday lives. It is defined as ‘the feeling that…events will turn out for the best.’ When we exercise hope, we ‘look forward…with desire and reasonable confidence.’ As such, hope brings a certain calming influence to our lives as we confidently look forward to future events.” Hope allows us to be happy! But when things start to go wrong in our lives, we often forget to have hope, and instead swim in the feelings of sorrow and despair. Steven E. Snow goes on to say: “We should never let hope be displaced by despair. The Apostle Paul wrote that we ‘should plow in hope’ (1 Corinthians 9:10). The exercise of hope enriches our lives and helps us look forward to the future. Whether we are plowing fields to plant or plowing through life, it is IMPERATIVE we…have hope.”

Hope can be retained simply through the things we do everyday. The Sunday school answers we always give are included, pray, read our scriptures, and attend church. When we pray to our Heavenly Father, and tell Him of our sorrows and despairs, He can help us overcome this by feeling us with peace, comfort, and strength. But we HAVE to go to Him, and ask for His help. Reading our scriptures keeps our minds centered on the gospel, allowing us to focus on good things instead of things that bring us down. Attending church each week allows us to partake of the sacrament, and be taught about the Gospel. Hope can also be retained by other daily acts. We can fill our days with positive thoughts! We can look for ways to serve others, and help to ease someone else’s burdens. When we are serving our fellow brothers and sisters, we are serving God, and He will bless us again with feelings of peace, comfort, and strength!

I think we are always quick to forget that we can always turn to our Savior for hope. Our Savior and brother Jesus Christ is always by our side, ready to help and lift us at any minute. Christ, in His every loving way to provide us with the Atonement, took every individuals sins, infirmities, sorrows, pains, despairs, and every feeling of lost hope upon Himself. Christ KNOWS what we are going through, and He can help to lift us out of whatever we are going through. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf says that: “Hope in our Heavenly Father’s merciful plan of happiness leads to peace, mercy, rejoicing, and gladness. The hope of salvation is like a protective helmet; it is the foundation of our faith and an anchor to our souls.”

 

Hope is ALWAYS an option! We do not have to allow ourselves to remain in feelings of sorrow and despair, we CAN have peace! Let us allow our hearts to be filled with the peace and love that comes from our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ! Whenever we are going through hard times, let us push through them with a HOPE that life can ALWAYS get better! We are never too low to be raised up and have a hope of a better life! Hope EXISTS, ALWAYS!

Avoid Eye Contact...

If you are anything like me, you try to avoid eye contact at all costs when someone asks for a volunteer to give the prayer. I really don’t know where my aversion to public prayer comes from, because I absolutely love teaching, but I am never afraid to say No, thank you. Personal prayer is different, I can say a million different personal prayers a day, and not even think about it. At home, in my car, at work, wherever I am, I have no problems saying a personal prayer. But the second someone asks me to pray in front of a group…nope, not going to happen. Haha!

There are two types of prayer that occur, as mentioned above, personal and public…but it is all going to the same source. I think we easily forget that our Heavenly Father is ALWAYS waiting for us to talk to Him. He WANTS us to talk to Him, and tell Him all about our day, joys, sorrows, trials, success, etc. He wants to know EVERYTHING!

For me, I find it easier to stay in a habit of daily prayer when things are going good, but the second things start getting hard, I shut myself up. That is the time we need to communicate the most with our Heavenly Father. We are a prideful bunch of people, and we think that we can get through things all on our own. We forget that we need God’s help. Stephen E. Robinson in his talk “Believing Christ:A Practical Approach to the Atonement,” speaks about this very issue. He explains that people try and do everything on their own, and try to save themselves. But we cant, and shouldn't have to do that. If we communicate with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ, They will lift us up when we fall, give us the strength to keep going, and help us through our trials because They WANT us to succeed.

I have the privilege of working around 200+ Sister Missionaries most days when I am at work. They are always asking me how I am doing, and sometimes I will tell them the truth. If I am going through a hard time, and don’t really know what to do, I will ask their advice. Usually the first thing they will ask me is, “Amber, have you prayed about it?” Me, being my stubborn self, will laugh a little, and say “no, it’s not that big of a deal.” But it is my friends! Prayer is a HUGE deal! It should be at the forefront of our thoughts with anything and everything we are going through! These sweet sisters of mine constantly remind me that I need prayer every MINUTE of every DAY. If only it weren’t so easy for us to forget.

 

So, why is Prayer, and communication with our Heavenly Father so important? Well, why isn’t it? On a daily basis, how often do you speak with your earthly parents, your mom and dad? I am constantly talking to my parents throughout the day, in person, on the phone, through text/picture, etc. It is so easy for us to communicate in today’s world. But, it is just as easy to speak to our Heavenly Father. Just like our parents on Earth, He wants to hear from you constantly.  J. Devn Cornish of the Quorum of the Seventy, said, “Heavenly Father loves us so much that the things that are important to us become important to Him, just because He loves us” (The Privilege of Prayer).

Prayer is a gift for us. It allows us a line of contact with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is also easy, and simple. Formal personal prayer is generally given when on ones knees, kneeling at your bedside. But it doesn’t have to be. Anywhere you are, and whatever you are doing, you can always say a prayer, aloud or in your mind. Either way, it will be heard. President Thomas S. Monson counsels us on prayer, saying, “To those within the sound of my voice who are struggling with challenges and difficulties large and small, prayer is the provider of spiritual strength; it is the passport to peace. Prayer is the means by which we approach our Father in Heaven, who loves us. Speak to Him in prayer and then listen for the answer. Miracles are wrought through prayer.”

Many people will say, “I don’t think my prayers are being answered, or are even heard.” This is a common belief, but it would be wrong. God is always listening to our prayers, and He always knows what is in our hearts. Our prayers may not be answered in the time or way that we would like them to, but they will be answered in the best way for us. On receiving answers to prayer, Elder Richard G. Scottof the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, counsels, “It is a mistake to assume that every prayer we offer will be answered immediately…Don’t worry about your clumsily expressed feelings. Just talk to your Father. He hears every prayer and answers in His way.”

The bottom line is that we need to be praying all day every day. It doesn’t have to be a lengthy formal prayer; it can be a quick one wherever you are. God is there, He is listening, and He wants to help you. Allow Him to bless your lives by first coming to Him in prayer. Don’t let pride stand in the way of your Heavenly Father stepping in to assist you. Whatever you are going through right now, good or bad, pray to your Heavenly Father about it. He understands, He knows, and He wants to be able to bless your life immensely. Let God in, Pray to Him, Talk to Him.

Nobody's Perfect...but God Loves Us Anyways

Life is crazy, unpredictable, and sometimes just plain hard. But, its ok! A new day always comes, and we can start over! We are on a roller coaster in this life, and the best part is, we CHOSE it! We chose to come to Earth and experiences trials, sorrows, disappointment, anger, loss, etc. But we also chose to experience happiness, joys, excitement, love, and anything else you could possibly think of.

          

I’ve learned over the years that we are the hardest critics of ourselves. We are constantly judging ourselves, comparing ourselves to others, and being downright harsh to ourselves. We place other people above ourselves, believing that they are better, and we can never measure up. We believe that people around us are perfect, and they can’t possibly understand what we are going through. But this just isn’t the case…Nobody is Perfect!

            

Everyone makes mistakes, whether we believe it or not. Every day we make mistakes, big or small. Not one of us is exempt from making a mistake. And that is totally ok! If we didn’t make mistakes we would never learn from them, and we would never move forward. When we make a mistake, or we sin, we oftentimes will feel guilty about it. This is a good thing! If we feel guilty, we know we are doing something wrong, and we need to correct our path. Making mistakes shows us the right way we need to go, and the way we WANT to go! The way we want to go is towards that of perfection. 

            

We were not sent to this Earth to be perfect, and we probably won’t attain perfection in this life. Our Savior Jesus Christ is the ONLY one who came to this world, born perfect, lived perfect, and died perfect! And He did it all for us! Before Christ died, he knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, and took all of our experiences upon himself, good and bad.  Jesus Christ did this because he knew we couldn’t be perfect, but he made it possible for us to be forgiven of our imperfections. He did this so we could return again to him and our Father in Heaven. They WANT us to come back to them!

            

Elder Holland teaches us that, “Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it.” God deals with the fact that we are imperfect, and so should we! No matter what we do, how imperfect we are, how many mistakes we make, God is still going to love us! In John 3:16, we read, “For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Heavenly Father did this for us! He gave us a Savior, because he loves us. He allowed Jesus Christ, his only perfect son, to be crucified and die for us, because he loves us. He gave us the Atonement, a way to be forgiven, because he loves us. Our Father in Heaven LOVES us! If we remember this, everything else will be ok!

            

I love the quote by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf when he says, “Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.” God’s love is real, and he wants to give it to us!

            

We are going to make mistakes, we are going to sin, but God still loves us. At times we are going to feel like a complete disappointment, and that there is no way God could still love us, but He will, and He DOES! We aren’t perfect, but God’s love is! We are His sons and daughters, and he loves us. Life is going to be crazy, unpredictable, and hard…but its OK! We can continue to move forward! Every day is a new day. We can acknowledge our imperfections, repent if necessary, and start over!

            
Nobody is perfect! If we were perfect, we wouldn’t be here. There is always something more we can learn, and ALWAYS something more we can do! Life is crazy, but it’s a road I will gladly take if it gets me back to my Father in Heaven, and my Savior Jesus Christ! We are imperfect beings living in a crazy world. No matter how imperfect we are, or just believe we are, God Loves Us Anyways!!! If nothing else, remember that…God Loves You!