Because Of Him ... there is hope.

I was at a craft store yesterday ... there was a young mom with three kids, the baby crying, and two older children whining and fighting ... the poor mom looked frustrated, fatigued and helpless, like she was dangling on her last nerve. Then to top it all off, two older women were rolling their eyes at the fussing children and one said much too loudly to the other, " It's so annoying when you can't even shop without having to listen to this crap!" I was so annoyed with the two old farts that I said, (much too loudly!)  " It's so annoying when two old farts fuss about other peoples kids, what's she supposed to do with them?, It's illegal to tie them up like horses outside!" The young mom laughed, but I saw the tears in her eyes as she moved her little family to the door.

I was saddened, for the frustrated mom and for the lack of compassion from the older women ... I kept thinking about the incident as I drove away. I had been feeling the heaviness of my own burdens and trials all day. I was missing my bother who passed away a year and a half ago. I felt picked on and lonely. I felt this poor young mom was probably feeling a little picked on herself.

Life is interesting at best. There is always something ... something lonely, sad, frustrating or maddening, sometimes there's so much of it that it's overwhelming! ...

David Osmond sings a song called "The Loneliest Walk" ... I was deeply moved by the last verse ...

"He pushes up the board they've tied onto his shoulders
He bears, with dignity, disgrace
He hears the jeering and the wind is getting colder
Tastes the blood upon his face
His body bruised an back still open from the scourges
The consequence of wicked men
He knows no man on earth has ever deserved this
But still He bears it all for them
And He keeps moving up the hill to do His Father's will
With each step He takes there's another to follow
And one more ache, one more tear to swallow
We all stand by and watch as the price is paid
Through the loneliest walk of His life
So we don't feel alone in the night
We can have His hand holding the light
Through the loneliest walk of our lives.

Keep pushing through this lonely walk you're going through
'Cause some one's walked this way before."


Listening to this verse over and over on my CD player and very overcome with emotion. My heart was burning with gratitude that we  have a Savior who loves us so much that He would walk that lonely walk and feel the weight and pain of all the world so that no matter what we go through ...

The mom who is juggling fussy kids ..
The lonely gal with a cat and no job ...
the widow who misses her husband so desperately that she feels like the pain will never end...
the person who's health is spiraling out of control and just one more test seems like just one too many...

No matter what we are faced with ... because of the Savior, we have hope. The hope we need to get through all of the crud. The hope that is the umbrella that shields us from the rain, the blanket of His love that warms us when it is cold and lonely. But mostly, He is the light at the end of the trial! The warmth, the joy and the peace that are the gifts of his suffering. Praise Him for loving us that much.


"And what is it that we shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of His ressurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in Him according to the promise."     --Moroni 7:41