Faith, Hope, and Patience

This week was a trying week for me. I realized AGAIN that we can always rely on the Lord for strength. I'm not going to go into any details, but several people who have become like my family here in Uyuni have passed away this week. Alma 32:21. We all know the scripture. As missionaries we use the scripture every week. "And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Having faith is something we all feel we have until it, or we, get tested. "If ye have faith ye HOPE". Hope is a weird word that doesn't quite have a definition. Although there are thousands of scriptures about hope, I couldn't really define it before this week. HOPE: To wait patiently for things which are true. In Spanish, hope is ESPERANZA, which comes from the word ESPERAR or TO WAIT. If we have faith we will wait for the blessings of the Lord to come into our lives with patience. Patients in a hospital are all hoping to be healed. Some patients are religious and some not, but all of them have the faith that the medications and surgeries will function even though sometimes they don't. We are all patients and the Lord has medicine for us, THE ATONEMENT. The cure of the Atonement does not always come when we want it to, but it comes. We have faith that Christ suffered for all of our afflictions, but do we hope for it? Do we wait for the Lord to help us heal, even if that healing does not always come in this life? The difference between the patient in the hospital and us is that we know the outcome. We CAN be healed - if we have faith, and HOPE for our spiritual medicine to work within us. Christ's Atonement can heal all hearts, all pains, and all suffering. We just need to take the steps we need to, and have hope for Christ to heal us. When we are wounded life doesn't always go back to the way it was, but it heals. When we have faith and hope, it doesn't mean everything will be the same, but our spirit heals. Love you guys.