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!