Having a Perfect Brightness of Hope

So this week has been rather rough. But I'll get to that in a minute. The highlights of my week were going to the temple with a couple of my friends. One was my friend Crystal; the other is a new friend named Mia. It was fun to go with those two crazy girls. The other was having a "short" lunch with my sister Megan. By short, I mean it only lasted an hour. For those of my readers who are unaware, my family tends to be very talkative. I imagine some of you will understand a bit better now, why I tend to be rather talkative.

This week, I also got to break out my winter gear which was disappointing. This week I'm slowly closing in on the end of The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. It is a continuation of the Percy Jackson series.

My roommate Risto pictured in my last post is letting me read it. I also bought the next book in the series called The Son of Neptune. I may like this series a lot considering that when I met one of the new sisters in my home evening group that I thought she looked like Annabeth.

Okay, so my week started and I was slowly coming to a decision. The decision I came to, around Monday evening, was that I was finished with the dating scene for the semester. I won't provide details just know that this was not quickly made decision; I'll just say that my dating history is best summed up by the French phrase "C'est toute une histoire." The next day I was going to do my scripture study and I asked the Lord that if He had anything in particular that He wanted me to read that he would direct me to it. I was prompted to read "Continue in Patience" by President Ucthdorf. As I read I felt the Spirit elbowing me and letting me know that this talk was meant for me to APPLY right now, so I changed my attitude and continued to read. Eventually I got to the part when he talks about how patience requires that we work towards our worthwhile goals and don't get discouraged because results don't instantly appear. I then read this line that was a sharp divine call (for me) to repentance "patience is not passive resignation". I knew right then, that I needed to repent. That afternoon, the devotional was on the Atonement and the temple which reinforced the Lord's message to me. That afternoon I went home and repented.

Well the rest of the week was characterized by lots of homework stress and no progress on the dating front. At first I was annoyed when the Lord reminded me that there must be opposition in all things; this includes dating. On related note, I will say that one of my roommates got engaged this weekend and right now, I am happy to be single because I know I couldn't handle all of the stress of an engagement on top of everything else I have to deal with.

I feel a bit uncomfortable writing this... mainly because I don't talk like talking my love life outside of a small group of people. They know who they are.

So I hope that you will try to listen to the Holy Ghost, especially when it tells you to repent. But more importantly, I hope you don't lose hope in the Lord's promises. I know that they are real, no matter how distance they may seem to you. God loves you. He knows the details of your life and understands your feelings perfectly. Never lose hope; the Atonement can heal you and help you regain the hope that you need. Remember the blessings and many answered prayers that you've had, if those are not great reasons to hope; I don't know what is!

I pray that you all have a good week!