"My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee"

https://youtu.be/_gWXIn6Et7c

I love this song. It touches my heart and fills me with hope and love. 

See 3 Nephi 22, Isaiah 54,  D&C 121:33, D&C 122::8-9, 3 Nephi 17:24, 2 Timothy 1:6-7, 3 Nephi 10:4-6, D&C 6:16 

Lyrics for My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee by Rob Gardner

For a little while

Have I forsaken thee

But with great mercies will I gather thee

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee

For a moment

But with everlasting kindness will I gather thee

And with mercy will I take thee 'neath my wings

For the mountains shall depart

And the hills shall be removed

And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea

But know, my child

My kindness shall not depart from thee

Though thine afflictions seem

At times too great to bear

I know thine every thought and every care

And though the very jaws

Of hell gape after thee I am with thee

And with everlasting mercy will I succor thee

And with healing will I take thee 'neath my wings

Though the mountains shall depart

And the hills shall be removed

And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea

Know, my child

My kindness shall not depart from thee

How long can rolling waters

Remain impure?

What pow'r shall stay the hand of God?

The Son of Man hath descended below all things

Art thou greater than He?

So hold on thy way

For I shall be with thee

And mine angels shall encircle thee

Doubt not what thou knowest

Fear not man, for he

Cannot hurt thee

And with everlasting kindness will I succor thee

And with mercy will I take thee 'neath my wings

For the mountains shall depart

And the hills shall be removed

And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea

But know, my child

My kindness shall not depart from thee

 

To Cleanse and Perfect

I have been listening to "A Case for the Book of Mormon" by Tad R. Callister. I recommend the whole book. There is a particular part that has stood out to me.

The power to overcome our weaknesses and perfect us

Starting near 21:41 of chapter nine, Tad Callister says that "The Savior can not only cleanse us. He can also perfect us. The doctrine that we can become Christlike because of Christ's atonement, is considered blasphemous by some Christians."

He goes on to make a persuasive case:

Suppose you were to ask one of your Christian friends if all Christians should be striving to become more like Christ? No doubt your friend would respond, 'yes'; since to say no would destroy the principle reason for the existence of Christianity.
...
To what extent can you become like Christ? [Your friend] might respond, 'to a very small degree'
...
Let's assume it is 1%. But if it is 1%, why not 5%? If 5%, why not 10%?

When we are dealing with a God with an infinite atonement, and a child willing to apply it, our weaknesses are no match. We seek His grace. His enabling power to overcome our weaknesses. We do it falteringly, inconsistently. As we try, try again. God promises us to forgive and forgive again. We only need to strive to become as God is. To "come and follow" the perfect example of Jesus of Nazareth.

What hope this brings me. My job is to remain in my covenant relationship with God. Day by day, week by week, decade by decade. I continue to strive to become what he has asked me to become.

Seeing Green

https://youtu.be/JPv-B0wn6F0

After Jill Thomas lost her daughter Penny in a tragic accident, her world seemed to crumble. Her husband was having a crisis of faith in God, her little girl was gone, and hope seemed all but lost.

“I felt nothing. I believed that the ‘answers’ to read your scriptures, say your prayers, and go to church were inspired and true. Yet I was doing those things—I was doing those things very earnestly—and I was feeling nothing. I had a sense that a critical aspect of spirituality was missing, but I didn’t know how to be inspired or guided anymore. I was lost.”

Join Jill in this Hope Works presentation as she explores the creative thought process that taught her to have faith, hope, and joy even in the midst of her suffering.

Hope Works is a series of videos captured at live events where presenters share interesting insights about hope and faith and how it works in their lives.

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From "Seeing Green", Jill Thomas, November 3, 2016

The Hope of God's Light

https://youtu.be/2w49_1a9X0Q

Many of us have wondered if God knows us or if He even exists. Todd was someone who made fun of people who thought God was real, and he wasn’t surprised when he didn’t get an immediate answer to a prayer. But could God be giving us small but obvious answers? And how patient do we need to be to get those answers?  

You can find hope in God & Jesus Christ and know for a surety that they exist and love you.

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An Effectual Struggle

There are times in my life when I discover another layer of work to be done. I have been working on a certain aspect of my character. I get to the point where I feel like I am getting it mastered.

Then I see the layer underneath. I see more work to be done. At times, I have felt discouraged, thinking I have already done the hardest thing I felt like I could do.

I was reflecting on this today and the following passage came to my mind.

17 And now, it came to pass on the morrow that king Limhi sent a proclamation among all his people, that thereby they might gather themselves together to the temple, to hear the words which he should speak unto them. 

18 And it came to pass that when they had gathered themselves together that he spake unto them in this wise, saying: O ye, my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; for behold, the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made. 

19 Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them with manna that they might not perish in the wilderness; and many more things did he do for them.
(Mosiah 7:17-19, emphasis added)

The phrase "I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made" had not stood out to me before. My friend Melanie Price Wellman, mentioned this in one of her podcasts. She said that, for her, it stood out in contrast to the previous struggles she had had. Struggles that had not been effective in getting her the results she wanted.

This phrase,"I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made" can mean that we can have hope in Jesus Christ. Hope that even though any previous struggles we may have had. Ones that did not get us out of the mud. We continue to hope for an effectual struggle. We will be victorious as we stay tethered to Jesus Christ. As we stay in relationship to him by the renewal of our covenants.

“a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying”

“a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying”
I relate to this. Thanks for sharing Arlena Marie Strode

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/latter-day-saints-keep-on-trying.html?lang=eng

The Faith to Reap

I love this quote on the relationship of hope to faith

if you ever find yourselves without enough hope to reach your dreams, don't focus on increasing your hope. Focus on increasing your faith in Christ, and hope will follow automatically.  When we are discouraged, we tend to focus on hope.  Like the high school football coach at halftime, the world would give you a pep talk.  "You can do it." we're told.  "Positive mental attitude." we're told.  "Get out there and go, go, go." But that kind of hope evaporates as soon as we meet with significant challenges.  The hope that comes from faith in Christ is different.  One who has faith in Christ recognizes that even if she or he can't do it, the Savior can.  And from this faith springs the hope that never gives up until the dream comes true.  This is the faith to reap. ("The Faith to Reap" a BYU-Idaho devotional from March 17, 2005 by Elder Wilford W. Andersen)

An Emerging Group, a Subset

Hugh Hewitt: ...how does the United States stack up in terms of the climate of openness to religious flourishing and freedom, of all sorts?

Jeffrey Holland: Yeah, well that’s a good question, Hugh, because I think in some ways, as secularism prevails and the 21st Century unfolds, in some ways, we’re less reverent, we’re less spiritual, maybe less religiously affiliated as a nation. But within that, there is an emerging group, a subset, if you will, that I think is more interested, are more willing to listen to the missionaries. Maybe a little harder to find, but when you find them, these are people that probably are more interested now in a way than they were 20 years ago. Maybe it’s the issue of the day, maybe it’s the kind of political and social phenomenon you’ve already referred to, but something is getting their attention that say maybe we ought to have more faith, maybe there ought to be more religion, maybe there ought to be more devotion. So maybe it’s a kind of a polarization. I wouldn’t say sheep or goats or wheat and tares. That sounds too ominous. I’m not an apocalyptic guy.
("A Conversation with LDS Elder Jeffrey Holland", Hugh Hewitt, Feb 27, 2015)

Infinite Power of Hope

... to all who suffer—to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely—I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in. 

Never surrender. 

Never allow despair to overcome your spirit. 

Embrace and rely upon the Hope of Israel, for the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow, and gladdens every heart. ("The Infinite Power of Hope", Dieter F. Uctdorf, Oct 2008)

Let Go and Let God

The most important thing is for us to love God and love our neighbor.

We must plant and nurture faith in Christ, practice repentance and forgiveness, make and keep covenants with God, and learn joy in sustaining it.

The rest of it will work its way out. Just like Pres Hinckley would say.

Sometimes we can get hung up on a teaching that is hard to understand, or we can doubt that God's mercy applies to ourselves. We can let go and let God.

Let go of doctrines that don't make sense or are hurtful to us. We can let go of doubt and despair. If we let his love reach us, and change us with our consent and effort, every thing else will work out.

Let His Love Reach You

There is hope,
for every soul that's lost.
There is a way back home,
no matter where you've roamed.
His love will heal you, will lead you there.

There's a place for every heart in pain,
A place where there's not hurt,
And there's no shame,
Let His love reach you and teach you every hour.



"Let His Love Reach You/From God's Arms to My Arms to You", Michael McLean, One Heart in the Right Place, 1990, Grooveshark, Last FM)

Why Hope?

We hear the phrase in the scriptures "faith, hope and charity". Gerald N. Lund had a calling to teach a monthly class on spiritual and temporal preparation. He was trying to figure out what to teach on. Here is an excerpt from his conversation with Heidi Swinton.

I had started to notice that more and more I was hearing people just talk about how tough life is for them right now. This was right when the economic crash came. We got people out of work. You are seeing retirees going back to work because they can't survive because they lost all their retirement.  

It was that and I met a man who'd been active in the church his whole life, had held a lot of positions in the priesthood and his basic response was, "you know what I've tried it all, I've prayed I've been faithful, I've served in the church, God doesn't hear my prayers. That means He doesn't care. I've had it. I'm through with it." and [he] left the church. That was the most dramatic.  

One day in fast meeting a fellow in our ward got up and basically said farewell to the ward. He said that they were going to be moving and he got quite emotional and he said that one of the the hardest thing he ever had to do in his life is try to explain tell his 16 year old son why they were moving in with Grandma.  

I was hearing all this kind of stuff, so I decided this one night I was going to do one of my classes on hope. We talked and asked, why is it faith, hope and charity? Frankly I used to think why isn't it faith, revelation and charity or faith and repentance and charity or faith, obedience and charity? 

Faith, yes I can see that. Charity yes, but why hope? And so as I started studying it, I started to sense that here was the answer to these problems. Why is it that some people...  You know we talked earlier about the strength of the pioneers and their faithfulness and so on but there are some that weren't. You don't have to read too far to find out the stories of drop out pioneers, who are facing no more difficult challenges than some of the faithful ones.  

So what makes the difference, why does one stay faithful maybe even strengthened by adversity where someone else says, "that's it I'm outta here", turns bitter and so on? That has intrigued me for a long time. It doesn't intrigue me any more. I know the answer.  

The difference is hope.  

I remember two or three conferences ago President Uchtdorf talked about hope and he defined it as trust in the promises of the Lord. He said hope is not knowledge, it's trust in the promises of the Lord.  

When you hear as I recently did of a woman who lost a teenage daughter to an automobile accident. She talked about the pain and the loss. Even now two or three years later, even the tiniest thing will set her off and she starts to cry for her loss. But she said, I choose hope. I know where she is and I choose hope.  

And I thought, "that's the difference. That's what brings the strength". And so, I decided to turn it into a book.  Probably the most difficult one I've written for some reason. A really great learning experience for me personally.
(59:33 - 1:04:20)

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