NEW BEGINNINGS: HOW TO TURN YOUR LIFE AROUND IN SEVERAL, NOT-SO-EASY STEPS; #2 Hope

HOPE

When you allow the light to shine upon your life, one of the first things you will notice is all of things that need to change to get better.  It is easy to get discouraged, thinking that this process is beyond your ability to do. If you wallow in this kind of discouraging thought, it can lead to depression and even despair.  That is not what God wants for His child – you. The road we call life is going forward, even when the going gets tough.  I found this little quote online: The road that is built on hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.

That is why I want to talk about HOPE this week, but not just blind hope.  I want to talk about hope centered in Jesus Christ. He understands you even better than you understand yourself.  He can direct your steps – even provide miracles, if necessary – if you let Him.  That is where you place your hope. Together with faith and love, God can get your through whatever the challenge is.  President Nelson wrote: faith is rooted in Jesus Christ. Hope centers on His atonement. Charity is manifest in the pure love of Christ.  These three attributes are intertwined like strands in a cable. Together, they become our tether . . .. They say, when you come to the end of your rope, tie and knot and hang on.  That knot is the faith, hope, and love centered in Jesus Christ. Through Him and through His atonement, you can be forgiven of any sins or mistakes in your life. The prophet, Isaiah, wrote: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as wool.

A wise person once wrote that hope can inspire dreams . . . but hope alone does not cause us to succeed.  Many honorable hopes have gone unfulfilled, shipwrecked on the reefs of good intentions and laziness. Praying is absolutely essential and absolutely not sufficient (to borrow a term from my high school math class.) You have to pray as if everything depends on God, then get off your knees and work as if everything depends on you. Hope in Jesus Christ is a verb, not a noun.

If I know that Christ died for my sins and that, through Him, I can be so totally forgiven that it is as if the sin never occurred, then I can have the strength to move forward, no matter what the trial.  The devil may whisper: you can’t withstand the storm; but you can answer: With hope in Christ, I can be the storm.

The prophet, Nephi, wrote: Wherefore, you must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men. Daily prayer and scripture study will help shine that brightness of hope even in the darkest corners of life.

Things to do: Each day this week, set aside a few minutes to read one of these references to our Savior. Put yourself in each situation, as if Christ was doing all of this just for you. Continue to pray daily.

1.     Sunday Jesus Christ was foreordained to be our Savior from before the world was created. (Abraham 3: 27)

2.     Monday Ancient prophets knew about Christ and prophesied of His coming. (Isaiah 9:6 is just one example)

3.    Tuesday We all have hope in Christ. (Moroni 7: 40-41)

4.     Wednesday We can be forgiven of all sin through repentance and the atonement of Jesus (Isaiah 1: 18)

5.     Thursday Believing in God is the first step toward hope (Ether 12: 4)

6.   Friday  Everyone is born with the Light of Christ to guide them when they feel lost (Moroni 7:16)

7.     Saturday Jesus outlined the path to Him in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5: 3-9) Jesus repeated His outline among the Nephites; He told them they would be blessed if they would come unto Him. (3 Nephi 12: 3-9)