When the clouds seem like they’re here to stay or your prayers feel like they’re falling on deaf ears, hold on. Hope is not lost. Just as a long night cannot stop the sun from rising over the mountains, doubt and despair cannot block the permeating power of our Savior’s love. Hold on, it will get better. Hold on, help will arrive. Hold on, the light will come.
While driving my children to school the other day, I noticed the sun peaking over the majestic snow-capped Wasatch mountains . As I marveled at the beauty, I thought about my husband being laid off from his job a month prior. Multiple interviews, contacts, emails, and phone calls had yet to prove successful in finding new employment and I watched his anxieties grow with each day that passed without an offer. I thought about the previous evening, when I walked into our bedroom to find my husband on his knees in prayer. I could feel the frustration, doubt, and yearning for direction. My heart also yearned for the Lord to hear us and I questioned why He wasn’t making things easy, resolved, or right.
As the sun’s rays burst over the mountain tops and through my windshield, I remembered the lyrics to a Michael McLean song:
The message of this moment is so clear
And as certain as the rising of the sun
If your world is filled with darkness, doubt, or fear
Just hold on, hold on, the light will come
Hold on. Sometimes that’s really hard to do. Okay, it’s almost always hard to do! And that answer can, at times, feel like a rejection from the Lord. Your world is crumbling, you have run out of ideas, you feel like you’ve hit your limit and yet there’s still so far to go. You are trying. You are trying so hard, but life isn’t letting up and you don’t know if you have what it takes. You hit your knees over and over and over again, begging for some direction, inspiration, a miracle or some sort of relief. And the answer you get is, “Hold on.”
I am a person who struggles in the winter. The days are shorter and colder, and that decrease in sunshine and warmth affects me physically—and mentally. It’s around this time of year that I yearn so greatly for the sun and it’s warming rays. I need it. I need it like I need air to breathe. And just when the cold, gloomy fog feels like it’s here to stay forever, I notice bits of green start to peak from beneath the remnants of last year’s foliage. The air gets a bit warmer and the sounds of chirping birds and children playing return and fill the space outside. There’s a rejuvenation in the world around me and in myself. The sun arrives. And the colder the winter, the greater the rejoicing when that light finally comes.
Jeffrey R Holland said:
“There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the ‘light that is endless, that can never be darkened.’ It is the very Son of God Himself. In loving praise far beyond Romeo’s reach, we say, ‘What light through yonder window breaks?’ It is the return of hope, and Jesus is the Sun. To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His ‘more excellent ministry’ with a future of ‘better promises.’ He is your ‘high priest of good things to come.’”
More than I need the sun, I need the Son. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World; the Light we so desperately require to move forward, to be happy, and to feel peace. When the clouds seem like they’re here to stay or your prayers feel like they’re falling on deaf ears, hold on. Hope is not lost. Just as a long night cannot stop the sun from rising over the mountains, doubt and despair cannot block the permeating power of our Savior’s love. Hold on, it will get better. Hold on, help will arrive. Hold on, the light will come.
Think of a time in your life when you struggled. Write down any and all tender mercies that you felt or experienced during that difficult time. If you’re currently struggling, keep a notebook or journal with you and try to focus on tender mercies that happen each day. Pray to recognize the Lord’s hand in your life and feel His love for you.
Photo from unsplash by Adam Smigielski
2 Comments
Mary Freeman
February 24, 2020 at 3:32 pmWe all have times of despair and so often we think and easy fix would be so helpful. But in the end we realize that the lessons learned are definitely what we needed. It is the journey that is the blessing. And so often we find ourselves in a place we never dreamed of and loving the opportunity it provides.
Chin up, don’t quit. Hold on to your loved ones and know there is light and good right around the corner.
Ashley Marchant
March 3, 2020 at 2:29 amSo beautifully put and full of truth! I love what you said of finding ourselves in a place we never dreamed of and loving it. That is often what happens when God is doing His work in our lives. Thank you, Mary!!