Hope Based

June 10, 2023

The adversary was significantly targeting me earlier this week. I wrote a few journal entries about how I was feeling, and they weren’t pretty.

One section that I copied and pasted word for word says, “I feel stupid for being at FSY. What am I doing? Why am I here?”

I felt like a failure. As to why, I’m not really sure. I just felt like I didn’t belong here, that I wasn’t as good as last year, that I didn’t know how to be myself, that I didn’t know how to invite the spirit, that I was wasting these youths’ time.

Later in the day, as I was walking back to the dorms, I ran into two of my boys.

Their faces lit up and they exclaimed “Kyra!” as they came up to say hi. They both gave me hugs, and then we parted ways.

I’m not usually a physical touch person, but when I’m at FSY, it’s a completely different story.

The two hugs I received felt like a reminder from heaven that I was meant to be there and that everything was going to be okay.

I was reminded that people loved me, that I am meant to be here, and that Heavenly Father was aware of me and my needs.

I decided that although the adversary was working hard to get me down, I was going to start implementing the “hope-based” approach.

That rather than immediately thinking that it’s stupid that I’m here, choosing to trust and believe that I’m right where I need to be.

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Now August 4, 2023

I’m done with FSY for the summer, so I finally have time to write all the blog posts that I can! Since my summer as a counselor is done, I’m probably going to use past tense verbs. That being said, I feel like I never know what I’m going to do, so if it switches, I’m going to just hope it makes sense and matches the flow and style.

[insert shrug here with a cute “I don’t know” voiceover]

So back to a hope-based approach.

There are so many things, an endless amount of things, really, where hope is important. Where it is vital.

In one way that I really admire hope is when someone doesn’t know something to be true, but they hope it is.

I told my kiddos that all summer.

It’s okay if you don’t want to be here. It’s okay if you don’t have the strongest testimony. It’s okay if you don’t know.

But if you have a mustard seed of faith, a mustard seed of hope, then we can work with that.

Sometimes we have to hope something is true before we can say we believe it to be true and then say we know it to be true.

“I hope the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.”

“I believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.”

Then finally, you can say, “I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.”

That growing process works with all aspects of trying to find truth.

One thing I have a testimony in is the power of hope. Although the unknown is scary, implementing hope makes it a little more bearable. A little bit more possible. A little bit more meaningful.

I think it makes it a little bit easier.

Playing the “what if” game in a different way.

Rather than “what if this goes wrong,” you think, “what if it all works out?”

What if it’s all okay?

What if He has my back and will never forsake me?

(Spoiler! That one is true!)

D&C 122:9 says, “… fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.”

Exodus 14:14 says, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.“

D&C 105:14 says, “… for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles.”

2 Kings 6:17 says, “Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.“

In a devotional given at BYU on March 18, 1980, Jeffrey R. Holland said, “In the Gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil, and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike—and they will—you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we could see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection.”

So once again, what if everything does work out? What if everything will be okay? What if Heavenly Father is aware of you and will not abandon you?

(The last one is another true statement.)

Hope.

That’s what I like to call hope.

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Some of the ways I saw hope my first week of FSY:

In the young women devotional, a young woman shared that, “I have really bad anxiety in big groups, but this week at FSY, Jesus has strengthened me and rather than feeling overwhelmed, I’ve felt loved by those around me.”

Another young woman shared about not knowing if it was true but that’s why she was at church camp. So she could find out.

When I saw youth believe even when they weren’t sure.

When youth bore their testimony because they were being brave.

When I saw parents drop their kids off at FSY, just hoping and praying their child would be taken care of and would have a good experience.

When one of my girls shared that she invited her roommate to come to FSY even though she wasn’t a member. She came! (And was darling might I add!)

When I found out that one of my boys had invited his non-member friend to FSY.

When his friend came! That’s hope if I ever saw it!

When one of my boys told me he came to FSY last year and enjoyed it, so he came again. Even though he wasn’t a member and even though he wasn’t sure if it was true.

To be honest, I saw hope all around me.

I saw mustard seeds of faith. Mustard seeds of hope that FSY could be a good experience. Mustard seeds of hope that they could make friends. Mustard seeds of hope that what they were learning was true. Mustard seeds of hope that they really were children of Heavenly Father parents with a divine nature and eternal destiny.

I know that faith brings miracles. I also know that hope carries us through til we receive them.

I know that having fear is the easy thing to do. It’s convenient. It doesn’t take much effort.

I also know that it’s painful. And it’s scary. And it’s overwhelming.

I know that having hope takes courage. It isn’t convenient. It takes effort and faith.

I also know that it leads to miracles. And it’s good. And it’s comforting.

But most importantly, I know that hope is worth it.

Having a hope-based approach to life changes everything. It turns us closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It sustains us when we have to wait. It fills us when we feel empty.

Having hope has changed my life. I hope you’ll let it change yours too.