Hope

Today was hard.

It was the last day of classes, and so full of running from one place to the next.

Stress abounded as I had a test to take and only a few hours to study for it.

And I experienced the heart-wrenching pain that comes from words crafted in anger.


But today was also amazing. 

I learned that sometimes an extra 3 hour class period that seems like a Professor droning on and on about his life story is really the sermon I needed to learn how to move through the mess.

This evening I finished my first knitting project- a scarf for a woman I love dearly.

Today I realized how much Heavenly Father truly does speak to me, and how sometimes he sends hard, scary things to teach me to trust my instincts.


Most of all, today I learned what it means to hope.

If you have faith you have hope, and if you have hope, you have everything.

One of Satan's biggest temptations is related to the loss of hope- usually based on a misunderstanding of God's promises.

The most basic truth I know is that God loves and cares for me.  And because of this, I can choose to live a life full of hope. I prefer to live a life that is predicated on hope.  A hope that goes beyond optimism, that deals with the really tough issues and provides satisfactory answers.  A hope that I can anchor my life with.  I cannot deny that God knows me, and that he loves me, and therefore in every experience I have, I must come back to interpreting it through that lens.  I can say to myself, "My Heavenly Father knows and loves me, so what does that tell me about this experience?"

This brings a whole new face to hope.  It transforms it from a blind wish that things will get better, into a firm understanding that all my life has to offer is based on eternal truths of one who knows exactly how to help me find true joy.

So I choose Hope.  I choose patience, kindness, and determination.  Not to sit idly by and wish for better, but to create a better life.  To know that all of my experiences are intended to help me learn and grow, so that I can one day reach the divine potential I possess as a Daughter of God.

Yes, I choose Hope.