4.17.2009

Hope.


I have been thinking a lot about hope lately.

The last couple of month have been interesting for my family. As many of you know, Eric graduates in 2 weeks from Utah Valley University. We have anticipated his graduation for the past five and a half years that we have been married. Eric and I knew when we first got married that we didn’t want to wait until we were done with school to have kids. We knew it would be a tough road, but that it would be well worth it in the end.

The last month has been a bit of a struggle for me. I felt betrayed. I felt that after all the hard work that we had gone through, we were back at the beginning wondering how we were going to support our family. I guess you could explain it as emptiness.

I hope that I am not making you feel bad for me, because that was not my intention in writing this today. I have had a very amazing ‘personal growth’ month, and I cannot go another second without taking a chance to publicly share my thoughts, feelings and testimony.

About a month ago on a Friday night I was feeling sorry for myself. I was watching the news and they were mentioning how in this economy it is hard to have Hope. Hope. hOpe. hoPe. hopE. I couldn’t stop thinking about what it meant to me to have HOPE at this time in my life. Many questions went through my mind. Can I have Hope without Faith? How do I create Hope? Can I be happy without the hope that everything will be okay? And that was only the beginning of the thought process.

So, my first step was to figure out what Hope was. I mean, I know what hope is, but what was it really, so here are a couple of things that I discovered:

· Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.

· Hope is the companion to Faith and Charity.

· Hope has a power to fill our lives with happiness.

· The absence of hope can make us ‘heart sick’.

· Hope is a gift of the spirit.

· We have the responsibility (commandment) to make hope an active part of our lives and overcome the temptation to lose hope.

· Hope bring us Peace.

· Hope is the foundation of Faith, without it we cannot have Faith.

And probably my favorite thing about Hope:

· Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us.


And ultimately I do believe that the Lord will fulfill his promise to me. Something that I read from President Uchdorf really touched me… ‘ There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope even when everything around us contradicts this hope.’ And that is the truth. This week, I had to make the decision to hope even though sometimes the world looks grim. The job market may look bleak, money may be disappearing from the bank account, I may not be able to get the car I want, the dreams of getting a home may be on the waiting list, but in eternal perspective, I know that the Lord will fulfill his promise to me. The promise that if I follow his commandments and live righteously, then I will be able to live with him again. I know that the Lord will help provide earthly needs when we live the way we should. I am so grateful that I am experiencing these trials at this time in my life, because I know that I will be a stronger person because of them.

Thanks for listening.

On a lighter note, here is a woman who had hope and made her talents show. Click here to watch this video. It is pretty shocking.


Love, Tamber

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Tamber, thanks for sharing that. That has been on my mind as well, as we are strugling with graduating soon and not having a clue what is coming after that. I appreciated your insight and faith!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this, Tamber. I know it isn't always easy to reveal personal information like this so I admire you and Eric for being so strong. We're always thinking about you two and your little family and I know that things will work out. And I'm so happy to see that you included Susan Boyle - even after the fifth time of watching that I still tear up!

Cort and Amy said...

So true. There were so many times where I thought that it was too hard, that I just couldn't take another job rejection or another day of craziness, but with all of that there still have never ever been a day where I came close to regretting coming here and for Cortney to go back to school. Even though we thought we would have to move in with my parents for a while, I still was so thankful that we could be here at this time in our lives.

Nikki said...

Tamber you are amazing. Keep the hope alive in your heart and in your home. The Lord will provide. It's hard during these times but you have done the right things and you will be blessed. Thanks for sharing your thoughts because it's really helped me too. You are so strong Tamber...such a good wife and mom. Stay positive and go forward. I love you!