Anchors, Storms and a little Faith

As I have been scrolling through my Instagram feed, and my Facebook wall, over the past few weeks I have noticed a pattern.  People I follow post something that is personal to them like a challenge, a vent, a rant, an issue they are dealing with, and even something really upsetting or sad, and then they post positive things to help counter that negative post.  Its neat to see what helps people turn to when they need to be up-lifted.

I've seen cute baby animals, flowers, funny animal videos, positive quotes, snarky quotes, smiley faces, landscape pictures, ocean pictures, beach images, pictures of their family, pictures of their past, pictures of their friends.  All of these things are just a few ways people deal with negativity, hardships, trials, challenges, sadness, hurt, pain, etc in their lives.  I love seeing these patterns it really helps me build my hope for mankind keeping a love for others in their hearts.

So this pattern seeking got me thinking about what helps me when I deal with all those negative things in my life.  And when I started to ponder this question, I noticed I would look at the paintings on my walls.  We have paintings I have painted, paintings we've bought from stores, paintings our kids have done, etc.  But of all the paintings that I would look as, there is one that really sticks out to me personally.

 Why did I paint an anchor of hope?  It stemmed from a quote I heard about Being of Good Cheer, Having Hope, and having an Anchor for the Soul.  Here is the quote:

"There are tremendous sources of hope beyond our own ability, learning, strength, and capacity. Among them is the gift of the Holy Ghost.Through the marvelous blessing of this member of the Godhead, we can come to “know the truth of all things.” ² 

Hope is the anchor of our souls. I know of no one who is not in need of hope—young or old, strong or weak,rich or poor."  By James E. Faust  

Here is the Link where you can find the full message.  Who needs "Hope"? I do for sure, and I'm sure you do too.  See for me Hope a key to Faith, such an important key that without it Faith will falter and fail.  Let me explain.

Recently I was struggling with something really hard.  This trial was literally filling my husband's and my minds with fear, confusion, worry.  Our bodies were fighting our anxiety.  Each time we prayed about this trial, we kept getting the same answer "have faith that things will work out".  Okay, well, that is nice, and comforting, but only for a little while.  It is really hard to have faith, when so much rests on this trial we are facing.  So each night as I would kneel to pray I would look to this Hope Anchor painting, and just stare at it until I felt at peace once again.

While staring at this painting a thought in image form or even more like a quick moving image came to mind.  I pictured myself on a little row boat in the middle of the vast ocean.  The first image was me in the boat on calm serine ocean water just enjoying the beauty and peace.  The second image was of a terrible storm coming upon me and my little row boat.  I tried to row away from the storm but couldn't.  So instead I threw my anchor over board and hoped that by being anchored down I wouldn't be swept away by the heavy rain, whipping wind, and dizzying symphony of waves.  Every time the waves would pull me out, and drag me this way and that my faith would start to waiver, and tremble and falter.  But right before my faith was over come completely by fear, the rope which held the anchor would pull me back to safety and I was then given hope that all would be well.  That Hope from the anchor allowed my faith to hold out longer than it would have, and stronger than it would have, had I not had hope...in this little thought of mine.

Here is to us all holding onto our Faith because our Hope is anchored to safety, peace, calm, and anchored to the one who provides that for us.  Jesus Christ.