The Bolstering Effect of Hope

Several years ago, I found myself in the midst of a longstanding trial of the heart.  I ached for it to go away.  It was a heartache caused by someone else’s repeated actions- actions that directly affected me.  The wise leader of my church congregation suggested I study all the scriptures I could find having to do with HOPE.  I took his advice. 

A few months later, I was tasked with speaking to our congregation as part of our Sunday sacrament service.  The topic was- you guessed it- HOPE.  In our congregation was a couple who recently found out their young daughter had cancer.  This couple had other young children.  Their entire world just turned upside down.  What words of solace could I possibly have to offer them?  I sincerely prayed that the Holy Spirit might work through me to deliver peace to their hearts. 

In my remarks that day I read a quote by Boyd K. Packer.

Remember this! The line “And they all lived happily ever after” is never written into the second act. That Line belongs in the third act when the mysteries are solved and everything is put right. The Apostle was right when he said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Corinthians 15:19.) Until you have a broad perspective of the eternal nature of this great drama, you won’t make much sense out of the inequities in life. Some are born with so little and others with so much, some in poverty, with handicaps, with pain, with suffering, premature death even of innocent children. There are the brutal, unforgiving forces of nature and the brutality of man to man. We’ve seen a lot of that recently. Do not suppose that God willfully causes that, which for His own purposes, he permits. When you know the plan and purpose of it all, even these things will manifest a loving Father in Heaven.

The second to last sentence of that quote runs through my mind often.  “Do not suppose that God willfully causes that, which for His own purposes, he permits.” It helps me maintain proper perspective and grants me the bolstering I need to keep placing one foot in front of the other.  God does not cause the chaos ensuing among mortal mankind.  He is, however, watching it play out and leading us along when we choose to let Him.  He watches as we learn from hard experience.  He designed mortal existence on earth to be a period of learning by experience, not merely learning by lecture format with frantic note taking and subsequent memorization.  Practical experience is what stretches the spiritual muscles and expands the soul.  After all, God’s in the business of doing the most he can to prepare his children, not the least.  Are we taking God’s teachings to heart, implementing them for ourselves with a trusting hope?  Are we being willing apprentices eager to learn the ways of God, practice for ourselves, and master His art?  Do we take courage from Christ, the one who already apprenticed with perfect faith?  When our answer is YES then we simply “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope” (2 Ne 31:20).

Is hope always perfectly bright though?  Was hope always perfectly bright for that young family watching their daughter endure week after week of cancer treatments, putting hundreds of miles on their vehicles to make the hour and half drive to the hospital, arranging childcare time and again for their other children, spending restless nights and tedious days praying to God for miracles?  No.  Hope’s light was probably a fickle flame in their hearts at times.  The good news is, one day, the miracle finally came.  The girl conquered.  The family conquered. Surely now, looking back, hope for them is a perfect brightness.  

What about my story?  The longstanding trial of my heart?  my heart is still on trial-- the nutshell of mortal experience for all of us, right?  I suspect some details of my story may weave their way into future blog posts as I examine the lessons I’m learning of finding hope in Christ and holding onto it more perfectly each time.  The miracle for me though, and I suspect is no different for you, dear Reader, is that each time we lose grasp of the hope, struggle, seek Christ all the more diligently, then grasp hope again, we learn to “sanctify the Lord God in [our] hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh [us] a reason of the hope that is in [us] with meekness and fear.” (1 Pet 3:15)  

 

A testimony of Christ? THAT, dear Reader, is a pretty satisfying reward.