In all ages of time people have felt the need for hope.

There is a saying – a proverb – in Tongan that goes, “Ikai ke’i ai ha mamaki hange ha ‘amanaki to noa”. It means, ‘there is no pain so great as a hope unfulfilled.’

Why do we keep on hoping? They say hope springs eternal, and it’s good that it does, for it gives us something to live for. Why do we keep coming back after so many defeats? Maybe because God is eternal and God is hope as well as love – and they may well be the same.

John Groberg says, “Therefore, as he is the embodiment of hope and has a fullness of hope, there is planted deep within each of us something we cannot deny, for it is part of the very essence of ourselves and that is what we all, in mortality, hope. A person without hope is like a person without a heart – there is nothing to keep him going. As heart gives life to the body, so it seems that hope is an enlivening influence to the spirit, which is the real us. No matter what people may say it’s always there – it just depends on how brightly we allow it to shine in our lives. This shining may be in direct proportion to our faith.”

I feel that in God all hope has its existence. I have found that my faith in Christ stems from my hope in him; we cannot have faith without hope.

Written by Mike Humphreys, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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