Hope

Each year I watch a Christmas devotional where we hear from modern-day Prophets, Apostles & other church leaders. This year I was really touched by Gary E. Stevensons talk titled, Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room. He referenced heart rate monitors that help us keep track of the physical health of our heart, but also discussed how can we measure the spiritual health of our heart. 

"The Christmas season seems to be an appropriate time to contemplate how healthy our hearts are spiritually, and so I close with a simple suggestion that might help us monitor and strengthen our spiritual hearts: I invite each of us to choose to do something that expresses, in an OUTWARD way, our INWARD feelings about the Savior Jesus Christ as the gift we give Him this year."

You can listen to or read his talk --> here

So I decided to share just SOME of my inwards feelings in an outward way on my various platforms of social media. 

After my accident, no doctor could offer me hope that I would walk or run again. Regardless of my medical diagnosis & situation, those early days, weeks & months were filled with hope. Hope that my body would heal, hope that I would learn to walk and maybe even run again. Early on hope was truly a gift. It came naturally to me during those first 3.5 months in the hospital. 

As months and years continued to pass, I lost sight of hope at times. I wondered what my future would hold - Would I get married? Would I have children? I loved this reminder from Dieter F. Uchtdorf “Hope is a gift of the spirit…Hope is not knowledge, rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises to us.” This reminder that hope is not knowledge of how things are going to work out, but trust & faith that no matter our current circumstances, that God is faithful & keeps his promises in His time. Hope has the power to fill our lives with light even in our darkest struggles. 

My greatest source of hope is through Christ & His Atonement because of Him there is always hope. Although there’s many advancements in the medical world, there is still no cure for paralysis here on earth, but there is a cure. How comforting it is to know that Christ has already cured my spinal cord injury. One day paralysis will no longer rule my body. And it is because of Christ because he was BORN, His life, His ministry, His Atonement and Resurrection that makes that all possible. He truly is the Master Healer, the Great Physician and Prince of Peace. Modern medicine may not have a cure for paralysis, but Christ does. It is so beautiful & hopeful to know that there is a cure, for ALL of our circumstances and ailments in life.