HOPE

Today at church there was a talk that was about Hope. It really hit home for me, with all of the trials that our family has gone thru this year with my health and our business. This talk really made me reflect on this last year and how we have been able to survive.

The principle of hope extends into the eternities, but it also can sustain us through the everyday challenges of life. "Happy is he," said the Psalmist, "that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (Psalm 146:5). With hope, we can find joy in life. We can "have patience, and bear with . . . afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions" (Alma 34:41). We can "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Nephi 31:20).

As I went thru my double Mastectomy, the thing that got me thru it was Hope and of course my family. Last month I had an emergency surgery that took out my expander's because some of the permanent sutures had come loose and were ripping thru the transplant tissue and my skin. So with that they went ahead and put in my implants. I have been very blessed to have a surgeon that knows what he is doing and a very supportive husband who was able to give me a priesthood blessing. It was one of the most beautiful blessings I have ever received.

I am so grateful for the spirit of hope and the fact that we can rely on the lord to receive the blessings that come with it. To my 3 beautiful daughters my hope for you is to grow into strong women like the women that came before you. I look forward to a lifetime of HOPE.