You're Strong Enough (18 page)

O
ur quest for hope begins when we realize that we need help along our path. Hope occurs when we have faith that things in our life will come to pass. Having faith is hoping for things not seen, but true. For instance, let’s say you have partaken of some poisonous apples in your life. You must have faith that, through repentance, Christ’s atonement will forgive you and heal you, and hope that God will use those experiences to your benefit.

Hope is the power behind our drive to live, change, endure and complete our quest, despite the fact we have been bruised, wounded, poisoned, challenged and tried.
Change is the biggest part hope plays in our life. During our quest, all of us will mess up. If we do not have hope that we can change and be forgiven then why try?

Hope is what helps us forgive, live and trust again when we have been harmed, bruised and beaten. Sometimes, when all seems lost, all we can do is have hope for a better future, hope that we will be healed, hope that our life will turn out okay and hope that will be blessed for our good deeds. Without hope, we would live in darkness.
Through Christ’s atonement, our Heavenly Father brought hope as a light in the darkness, peace in the despair, strength to the weary, healing to the sick and faith during the unknown.

Without hope in our lives, during many of our trials, we would be lost, unforgiving, hateful and unwilling to change. Hope is what helps us be unselfish, kind, loving, generous and compassionate. Hope is what Satan is fighting to take away from us. If we do not have hope that our deeds would be rewarded or that change is possible, then we would live a life based on selfish desires, evil acts and riotous living. Having faith that the atonement will wipe our sins clean and hope that Christ’s mercy will make up the difference will help us conquer our quest with honor.

An Earthly Guardian Angel

Hope is essential when we have so many trials and obstacles along our path. Help from one another can help us keep our hopes up when those obstacles become extremely hard.
Therefore, everyone should have someone who believes in them, and supports and encourages them to make good decisions.
Someone that will be there for you when you’re struggling with what direction you should choose, when warding off Satan’s temptations and when you are feeling down. This someone I will call an Earthly Guardian Angel.

An Earthly Guardian Angel is someone who will help you change, figure the things out when you’ve messed up and be there to help you battle the dragon.
Everyone on Earth should have at least one person who will help them succeed on their quest.

Our Heavenly Father never intended us to make this quest alone. Even though it is up to us to make good choices, our Heavenly Father has placed family, friends and others in our lives to help us when we are confused about what choices to make.
We all need someone to help keep our hopes up when we are feeling down and discouraged.

When we are trying to change and do what is right, Satan will become even more persistent in trying to have us mess up again. But when you have two people fighting against the dragon, your chances of success have doubled. Therefore, it is very important to find someone here on Earth that you can counsel with, listen to and bounce ideas off. If our Heavenly Father wanted us to complete this quest alone, then each one of us would’ve been born on our own island.

Everyone needs someone who can give them feedback and be honest with them. An Earthly Guardian Angel is someone to be a check and balance for you to make sure your ideas aren’t crazy and could hurt someone else when you feel your anger is over flowing.

A perfect example is the recent shootings at the movie theater on July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film
The Dark Knight Rises
. In this example the shooter was a loner, silent and angry. Either he did not tell others his intentions and share his feelings, or he was not being heard. How might things have been different if he had an Earthly Guardian Angel in his life?

My Quest for Hope

During my sophomore year in high school, I lived in California with my dad. I found myself needing support desperately because my mom was so upset that I had ran away. She did anything she could to get me back, including, contacting my tennis coach, the principal of my school and people in my church to tell them what a horrible mistake I’d made. She told them that my father was brainwashing me and that I was a victim and needed counsel from someone.

She would write me letters every week telling me how I had wrecked her life, that I was the devil’s daughter, that she was going to kill herself, that I had abandoned my little sister and how much she needed me. The guilt was destroying me. I was actually considering going back and living with her again. It would have been the worst mistake of my life.

I was very confused and depressed and when I went to my father for advice, he would tell me she was crazy and not to worry about it. Unfortunately, I was the type of kid that did worry about it. I couldn’t stand hurting someone else’s feelings. I didn’t have any friends talk to and, although my dad was trying to help me, he was biased. He couldn’t stand her. The thing that took its toll on me the most was her telling me that she was going to kill herself. I realized I couldn’t overcome this by myself. So, I asked God to help me and to send me someone that could help me get through this, for I felt I was drowning.

Our Heavenly Father sent me an Earthly Guardian Angel. She was a leader in the young women’s group in my church; her name was Cindy. Cindy noticed I was struggling and that I was feeling very down and depressed. She helped me believe I was in the right place and that I had made a good decision to leave my mom, especially after the stories I told her about what my mom had done and was doing to me. She explained that now that I was in a healthy environment, I could start healing from all the hell I had gone through.

There were times when I would start to doubt again, but I knew I could call and drop by and talk with Cindy. On those bad days of doubt, we would talk for hours. She would put her arm around me and let me know everything would be okay. I believe that without Cindy helping me and encouraging me, I would have drowned in my despair and confusion.

Drowning

There will be times along your quest that you will feel that all is lost.
At times like these, it is important to find someone who believes in you, listens to, counsels you and helps you with your trials and challenges.

For example: While on your quest you come across a small lake. Now the only way to get to the other side this lake is through it. Fortunately, you see a small boat along the lakeshore. Before you climb in, you feel really nervous because you don’t how to swim. Not knowing how to swim is like having your parents’ divorce, or having just been harmed by someone. You don’t know what to do, how to act or what to believe in.

You get up the courage to jump into the boat with no lifejacket and start to row to the other side. All of the sudden, out of nowhere, a strong wind starts to rock the boat. You try frantically to do all you can to not have this boat tip over, unfortunately, it does anyway. What do you do? Can you save yourself if you don’t how to swim? No. You will need someone who knows how to swim to save you. An Earthly Guardian Angel is that someone that will save you from drowning in your thoughts, in your despair, in your unforgiveness and in your life.

Sometimes, the difference between life and death could be having an Earthly Guardian Angel. Your angel can help you stay on your path and help you make the hard decisions.
Your angel can encourage you on the good ideas and discourage you on the
bad.

Learn to Swim

When your boat tips over in the middle of the lake and you don’t how to swim and your Earthly Guardian Angel helps save you, that’s great. However, it is important that you learn how to swim so that you can cross other lakes along your path in the future. The best gift an Earthly Guardian Angel can give you is to teach you how to swim. When he or she teaches you ideas, principles and concepts, it is important you apply these teachings in your life.
As you do, you will start building confidence in yourself and start trusting your own feelings and insights.

Why is learning to swim so important? We don’t want to rely so heavily on this Earthly Guardian Angel that we believe we can’t succeed without our angel. When I found myself drowning, Cindy was there a lot at the beginning. Over time, it became less and less necessary to call her, as I started trusting my own feelings.
An Earthly Guardian Angel is there to help you start believing in yourself and make you stronger.

God is always there