"Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time"

You know those days where you wish you could just hold up in a blanket, stay and bed, and just pray that tomorrow will get here already? Well, today has been one of those days, and it's only noon. What on earth am I going to do with myself for the rest of the day? That is one of those questions that I have asked myself every single day for the last few months. I look around me, in a house where we are guests, in a town where I only know about 5 people, and I know that it is going to be another day of being my own best friend. The funny thing is, that even when I feel so miserable and I want to cry (and may have been crying all day, so far), I am always reminded that I am never really alone. While I was sitting here on the couch, this phrase came to me, "Hope ya know, We had a hard time." I went and looked up the talk by Elder Quentin L. Cook from October 2008. It's funny how words from an apostle of the Lord, who doesn't even know me, are written just for me in my times of need. Incase you don't remember it, or haven't heard it, I'm going to quote a little of it :

"Last winter my daughter had a white-knuckle experience driving in a severe snowstorm. She reminded me of a similar situation I had with my two sons many years ago. My youngest son, Joe, was three years old, and my son Larry was six. We were traveling by car from San Francisco to Utah in June. The weather had been very good.

As we started our ascent to the Donner Pass summit in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, suddenly and without warning an enormous snowstorm hit us. None of the drivers was prepared. A semitruck in front of us had jackknifed and was spread across two lanes. Other trucks and cars had slid off the freeway. One lane was open, and many vehicles, including ours, were desperately trying to gain traction to avoid the other vehicles. All traffic then came to a halt.

We were not prepared for this blizzard in June. We had no warm clothing, and our fuel was relatively low. I huddled with the two boys in an effort to keep us warm. After many hours, safety vehicles, snowplows, and tow trucks began to clear up the massive logjam of vehicles.

Eventually, a tow truck hauled us to a service station on the other side of the pass. I called my wife, knowing she would be worried because she had expected a call the prior evening. She asked if she could speak to the two boys. When it was the three-year-old’s turn, with a quivering voice, he said, “Hope ya know, we had a hard time!”

I could tell, as our three-year-old talked to his mother and told her of the hard time, he gained comfort and then reassurance. Our prayers are that way when we go to our Father in Heaven. We know He cares for us in our time of need."

Elder Cook continues and quotes Elder Harold B. Lee: “Sometimes the things that are best for us and the things that bring eternal rewards seem at the moment to be the most bitter, and the things forbidden are ofttimes the things which seem to be the more desirable.” ⁴


As of this exact moment, I'm still having a hard time and I don't expect that to change in the next few minutes. However, I can face my hard times now and in the future with a positive attitude and faith that I am not alone in my trials. I am grateful for these little reminders of my Heavenly Father's love. 


I know this is not a sunshine and sparkles post, but hopefully it helps some of you now or in the future. :)