Many of the people around me are suffering great disappointment over this past year. So many of the people I know and love feel alone in a sea of endless crashing waves. My heart aches for them. My heart especially aches for those I am closest to and love the most.
Don’t give up! You are being prepared for something more beautiful than you can imagine.
We are often stuck believing that a beautiful, blessed life is one free of hardship. The truth is, adversity can enhance life’s beauty. “For is must needs be, that there is opposition in all things…” (2Ne 2:11). you may be shaking your head in disbelief, but hear me out. Hard things make our hearts stronger… a strong heart by faith, perseverance and growth. A heart that inspires confidence, opens doors, and spreads love.
I love finding good quotes from C.S. Lewis. He is a rare wise mind. He didn’t just follow his dreams, he made a difference in the world… he still does.
I love this particular quote for it’s simple message… a message of HOPE. Hope that even though we are going through hard things… something beautiful awaits us in the outcome. Hope that we can grow through trauma, heartbreak, loss, suffering, or disappointment into something extraordinary. The hardships and trials we go through can and do have meaning. A hope that these experiences shape our lives and our souls for the better.
I have worked through some hard things throughout my adult life. There were days that it seemed like a boatload of hard things and setbacks. Looking back, God was preparing me… a lowly servant in God’s kingdom, and ordinary life-struggler like most of you, for something extraordinary.
In Ephesains 3 I have learned that with God’s power working within us, all things are possible.
From Romans 8 I learn all things work for the good of those who love God. He can even use the bad, ugly, painful, and heartbreaking things that happen for our good… for our progress. He can weave together defeats, struggles, heartaches, pain, loss, trials, rejection, and even shameful mistakes into a rich, beautiful, on-of-a-kind design.
Like Nephi, I do not understand the meaning of all things, but I am SURE that God KNOWS me and LOVES me. Sometimes, it’s all I have…. and it is enough.
I believe we are called to be something extraordinary.
When we are at our lowest… that is when God is the most at work in our lives.
Hope gives meaning to our suffering.
Hope offers redemption.
Hope is the ability to be mindful of what happened in the past but also look forward to the future. (Go Rafiki!) Hope is to know that, no matter what you’ve been through, there’s a reason for your experience. Life has a purpose. All things matter.
The simple act of, yet not so simple act, of perspective to your life helps to step out of a raging storm of anger and sadness and disappointment into the peace and calm of God’s loving embrace. Finding a silver lining, that glimmer of hope, enables me to move forward with an increased understanding for living in the here and now.
There is something hopeful about knowing that an ordinary person like me has an extraordinary destiny.
We all must experience hardship. However, we stop being ordinary when we realize that loving like Jesus, trusting in God, is the most extraordinary thing of all.
When I trust in God I allow the Master to use each event in my life to create a master piece. You may not look at my life and not see a master piece. But I do. At least a master piece in progress.
No one knows exactly what you are going through. Your experiences are uniquely yours. All the same, God does understand.
Are you willing to allow God to work miracles of His choosing for you?
Resigning as the General Manager of the Universe 