Hope



Each month in our zone, we have a "Zone Theme" for that month. In April, our zone theme was "Desire." In May, our theme was "Thanksgiving." For this month it was gonna be "Power in Positivity," but as we talked about it, we decided to change it. The zone theme for June is "Hope." I know that my mama loves the topic of hope and she is a perfect example of someone who has hope. I know that she has been thru a lot in her life and she has had the oppurtunity to exercise hope in her life. I love and respect her so much for that. In Preach My Gospel, hope is described as, "An abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance. It is believing and expecting that something will occur. When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good. Hope helps you conquer discouragement. The scriptures often describe hope in Jesus Christ as the assurance that you will inherit eternal life in the celestial kingdom." (I couldn't think of a better description myself, and you really can't argue with the apostles, they tend to know their stuff) Think of instances where you have had to exercise hope in your life. A broken friendship? The repentance process? The loss of a family member? The death of a family member? Hope isn't just something that we can obtain overnight. In order for it to become part of us, in order for us to be hopeful people, we must exercise hope daily. How often to you exercise hope? We should be exercising hope every single day. What should we hope for? "And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise." (Moroni 7:41) As a missionary, our hope is that God will prepare His children to receive the gospel with open arms and to see the change in people's hearts. I love the scripture in Hebrews 6:10, because this is my hope, "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." I understand that all of us aren't missionaries, so how can hope apply to your life? Hope can be our anchors to our souls. When the trials and the hard times occur in our lives, this is God giving us the oppurtunities exercise hope in His Son. We've all been there. Those times when we need Him most. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf explains to us the "Infinite Power of Hope":

http://youtu.be/UbsU3b2srQA

My HOPE is that each of us obtain that hope that we are searching for in our lives. I Stand All Amazed...at the hope that we can all obtain thru Jesus Christ.