"So it is with faith, hope, and charity. Doubt, despair, and failure to care for our fellowmen lead us into temptation, which can cause us to forfeit choice and precious blessings.
The adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness. Despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be. Despair kills ambition, advances sickness, pollutes the soul, and deadens the heart. Despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward.
Hope, on the other hand, is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear."
I relate so much to the part were he talks about how despair leaves behind the empty remnants of what life was meant to be. I had always felt like if I lived the way I was suppose to then things would just go according to my plan. Sure, I have had occasions in my early life were things didn't go according to plan but they always worked out. So after I graduated from college and had found something that I loved to do I figured when the time came, if I prayed really hard, I would get a teaching job. It didn't work out so, I was extremely disappointed in myself, and let resentment take over. Instead, of realizing that my Father in Heaven had a plan for me, that I was at my current job for a reason and put my whole faith and trust in him. I was full of resentment, lost my faith in his plan, and choice to allow my self to feel sorry for myself for going on two years. I would think often about how things would be so much better if it had turned out the way it was suppose. But, know looking back there were lessons to be learned, I realize that know. This journey has opened up new doors, given my new options, I am gratify for that.
President Uchtdorf then goes on to explain the gospel definition of the word Hope.
"Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future.1 It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance.
In the language of the gospel, this hope is sure, unwavering, and active. The prophets of old speak of a “firm hope” and a “lively hope.” It is a hope glorifying God through good works. With hope comes joy and happiness. With hope, we can “have patience, and bear . . . [our] afflictions.”
'There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope even when everything around us contradicts this hope. Like Father Abraham, we will “against hope [believe] in hope.” Or, as one writer expressed, “in the depth of winter, [we find] within [us] an invincible summer.”
Yesterday I read a conference entitled The Rock of Our Redeemer, given by Elder Wilford W. Andersen . One particular part in this talk brought me both to tears and to a realization of all that I had somehow let slip away. It was a story about a family going through a very difficult trail and how they put their complete faith in the Gospel and its teachings. The father was fighting a very uphill battle with cancer. After a difficult week he Doctor gave the family the news that there was nothing more they could do for him. With that news the father looked at his family and said, " Does anyone here have a problem with the plan of salvation?" There simply faith and hope in the gospel teachings and in the Savior gave them the peace and comfort they needed to get through that very difficult time. I realized how much I lacked that, I little faith in my fathers plan and in his teachings I had. I am working on it, finding my way back!
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