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Hope In Thine End

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Audio: "Hope In Thine End"
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I love this campus; I love you! Being in a university setting makes me want to buy new school supplies, do homework, read books, and study in the library.

One thing it does not make me want to do, however, is take exams. There were times I walked into the testing center with dread, knowing that I was not prepared, but that it was too late to do anything about it. Other times, I remember feeling a quiet confidence; I had paid the price and felt comfortable in my mastery of the material I would be tested on.

Mortality, in some ways, is like a testing center. Every now and then, we are given true and false tests in life, clear right and wrong choices, moments of truth. When those come, stand up. Stand tall. Have courage. More often, everyday life hands us multiple-choice tests—sometimes like the ones we're convinced our professor is trying to trick us with. Is it A? B? C? A and C? All of the above? Or none of the above? All the choices may be good, but wrong for this moment. Is one best, or are they all wrong? Multiple choice tests of life—our decisions about the use of our time and our talents—require wisdom and understanding. They require perspective and “thinking celestial.” [1] That's why they are given to us by our professors and by the Great Teacher and Refiner of our Souls. We want to be successful in this test of mortality.

How would you define success? In college, success is often defined by a letter grade, but success in other areas of life is a little harder to define. My husband and I are blessed to serve in one of the branches at the missionary training center in Provo. One of the highlights is attending the missionary devotionals on Tuesday nights given by a General Authority or General Officer of the Church. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf spoke a few weeks ago. He taught us that success is doing well those things over which you have control. [2]

Those things over which we have control include our thoughts, our feelings, our actions, and our reactions. If we do these things well, God will magnify and bless our efforts. Again, things we can control include our thoughts, our feelings, our actions, and our reactions.

But what about all the things that are not within our control? There are a lot of those things.

I’m a planner, a list maker; I like my routines, my home, my bed.

Our personalities and tendencies will differ in this regard, but I think it’s human nature to want to have some control over what’s happening in our lives. It doesn’t take long to learn that sometimes the unexpected happens—living through a pandemic taught us that. Raise your hand if you had unexpected high school and/or mission experiences.

My guess is that there are still things that happen in your life that are unexpected and out of your control—good things and hard things.

I want to tell you a couple of stories that, on the surface, may seem unrelated.

The first story:

Years ago, my brother and his wife were excited to go out for a date, confident their oldest child was now ready to handle things at home while they were gone. With the younger children asleep in their beds and McKay in charge with detailed instructions, they left home for a nearby movie theatre. Imagine their panic when they returned home a few hours later, walked in the house, saw smoke, and smelled an electrical fire. They panicked, raced around the house checking on all the sleeping children, and eventually found that a smoking window-mounted air conditioner had been turned on in the middle of winter. They confronted McKay, who, unalarmed, was lounging on the couch reading The Economist. “Hey!” my brother asked, “What’s going on? Don’t you smell that?” “Sure,” McKay casually replied, “I do. I looked around and didn’t see anything. And you know, it was kind of irritating at first, but you get used to it.”

Second story:

In the spring of 2021, our Young Women presidency had the chance to meet the remarkable athletes of the BYU women’s cross-country team. We all know what happened a year earlier, in the spring of 2020. When COVID-19 hit, all sports shut down, and cross-country at BYU was no exception. The coach and the athletes were frustrated. They had prepared for years to compete at this level—now it appeared all opportunity was lost. It seemed as if all they could do was wait. It was during this waiting period of indefinite length that Coach Taylor told her team something powerful. She told them to “win the wait.” That phrase has stayed in my heart and mind ever since I heard it.

Rather than sit back and passively wait out the COVID-19 restrictions, adjustments were made to train differently than they had in the past. Instead of taking a break or easing up on the training schedule, these athletes doubled down and focused. When the wait was over, they were prepared to compete—and win. And that is exactly what happened. When gathering restrictions were lifted, and they could resume competitions again, they went on to win a national championship. They won the wait.

Two stories. Two illustrations of responding to the unexpected.

From little McKay in the first story, we see that becoming casual in our response to warning signs, unexpected challenges, or setbacks can put us at devastating risk.

From the women’s cross-country team in the second story, we learn that challenges, disappointment, and adversity can be turned into catalysts for change and growth.

When the unexpected happens, when answers to prayers don’t seem to be answered in the way you want or expect, when righteous desires are unmet—when, not if, this happens—don’t let it paralyze you or cause you to become complacent, ignoring warning signs that could lead you to doubt you have a loving Heavenly Father, who wants to bless you with every good thing.

Please realize that miracles are in the making; good things are coming. We may be stretched, and things may be hard, but our prophet has just told us, “The best is yet to come, my dear brothers and sisters, because the Savior is coming again!” [3]

I can hardly wait. But wait I will, and wait you will.

We wait for His coming, and we wait for a lot of other things. And this is something you have in common with the person you pass on the street and who is sitting next to you on the pew or in a classroom. We are all facing a mountain of some kind, waiting.

We wait to get accepted into a program we want—or even to figure out what we want to study.

We wait to finish school.

We wait for a dream job.

We wait for a dreamy spouse . . . or even just a boyfriend or girlfriend.

We wait for children.

We wait for better physical or mental health.

For relationships to heal.

For the economy to improve.

For political and social concerns to be resolved.

We wait for an answer.

We wait to become the truest and best versions of ourselves as children of God, children of the covenant, and disciples of Jesus Christ. [4]

I bear testimony that Jesus Christ is working in your waiting to sanctify and strengthen you, to purify and prepare you, if you trust in Him. You can “win the wait.”

It is in the waiting that much growth happens.

Forty years is a long time to wait and wonder, but that is exactly what happened to those who were led out of captivity by Moses.

The children of Israel were having a really difficult time—they were starving, they were thirsty, and they thought a life of slavery in Egypt had to be better than what they were facing in the wilderness. [5]

Then the Lord provided a miracle. Every morning “upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing.” [6] In Exodus 15:16, “they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was.” [7]

Looking at the footnote for manna, it literally means “what is it?” [8]

Sometimes, in our wilderness and waiting places, what we are gathering does not make sense. We feel confused, and we wonder, “Does God still remember me?” Letting God prevail in our lives means trusting Him and trusting His timing. He knows the end of our story and the experiences needed to help us become all that we can be.

Even though we do not always understand what God is giving us, it may, in reality, be lifesaving manna, a representation of the bread of life, but we just don’t understand yet.

This is where faith in Jesus Christ, a principle of action, comes in. We gather up daily that which we really don’t always understand—things that are unexpected, but that just might be saving us. And we look forward with an eye of faith. We remember the promise found in Doctrine and Covenants 90:24: “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant.” [9]

All things can work together for our good as we trust Him—searching, praying, and believing. We can remember we worship a God who wants to give us bread, just as He did with the children of Israel who wandered and waited for 40 years.

So, when the unexpected happens, will you remember that Jesus Christ so often shows up in unexpected places to unexpected people? I think He loves doing it.

Yes, he gave manna every morning for 40 years in the wilderness.

And think of Moses, standing with the Red Sea in front of him, the Egyptian army closing in at the rear. The water parted, and they walked across—on dry ground. [10]

Think of Christ changing water to wine at a wedding feast. [11]

Think of the daughter of Jairus, [12] Lazarus, [13] and the only son of a widow in Nain being raised from the dead. [14]

Think of 16 stones touched by the finger of the Lord to light barges on an ocean journey. [15]

Think of Lamanites who slept while captured Nephites escaped over city walls. [16]

Think of prison walls falling and prophet prisoners walking out unharmed. [17]

Think of Elijah looking for God in a whirlwind but finding Him in a whisper, [18] Moses finding Him in a burning bush, [19] and Mary Magdalene looking for Him in a tomb but finding Him standing behind her. [20]

And think of how Christ showed up to unexpected people: to a woman at a well at mid-day—a woman shunned because of her life choices, [21] to a man possessed of devils at the Gadarenes, [22] to Pharisees, [23] to a 14-year-old boy in upstate New York with a question, [24] and to a crying woman in a minivan on the side of the road.

So, when the unexpected happens, look for evidence of Jesus Christ. And as you turn to Him, come to Him, follow Him, a miracle is in the making.

We’ve been talking about waiting, and we’ve been talking about unexpected things that happen over which we have no control, some of which we would never choose—things that drive us to our knees—others that surprise and delight us.

But there are some things that we can count on, that we can take to the bank, outcomes that are certain.

In Jeremiah 29, we read about a group of people carried away captive from their home in Jerusalem to Babylon. They were headed into a period of great trial; they were going to an unexpected place for an unknown period of time. These people were held captive by an unfamiliar people for a long time; they were far from home—but they were not forgotten. The Lord kept them in His thoughts. He promised to send peace, to answer their prayers, and to be available to them. What He asked for in return was that they search for Him with all (not a part of) their hearts. [25] Verse 11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” [26] If you follow the footnote in verse 11 for the word “end,” it takes you to Jeremiah 31:17. [27] “And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord.” [28]

I love this promise! Each of us needs to learn, by experience, to have faith in the Lord and in His timing. There is great comfort in knowing there will be hope in the end. No matter what the end brings—He will be there. The Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus Himself is the gatekeeper and that “he employeth no servant there.” [29]

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, speaking of this scripture and why Jesus is the gatekeeper said, “I will tell you . . . out of the conviction of my soul . . . what I think the major reason is, as contained in another Book of Mormon scripture which says he waits for you ‘with open arms.’ [30] That’s why he’s there! He waits for you ‘with open arms.’ That imagery is too powerful to brush aside . . . It is imagery that should work itself into the very center core of one’s mind—a rendezvous impending, a moment in time and space, the likes of which there is none other. And that rendezvous is a reality. I certify that to you. He does wait for us with open arms, because his love of us is perfect. And when he entreats us to become like him, it is that we might have his joy, the fulness of which we presently can only guess at.” [31]

We can expect that, count on it. And at that joyful reunion, perhaps the most unexpected awareness we will come to is that when the Savior opens His arms to embrace us, we will see on the wrists and hands of a perfect, resurrected body that He kept the scars of His crucifixion—marks that witness of His perfect, everlasting, redeeming love—for you, for me.

Jesus Christ is the “high priest of good things to come.” [32] He is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.” [33]

Because of Him, we know the end result; we know who wins this battle—a battle that was begun in the life before this and that is continuing today with increasing intensity.

President Oaks taught, “To borrow a metaphor from the familiar world of athletic competitions, we do not know when this game will end, and we do not know the final score, but we do know that when the game finally ends, our team wins.” [34] Of that, I am sure.

I love Jesus Christ. And like you, I want to win the wait until we are with Him again. When the unexpected happens—those things that delight and those things that discourage me—I want to move forward with faith. I believe the Lord when He said that “all things [can] work together for [our] good” [35] and there is “hope in thine end.” [36] For He promised, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” [37]

He lives, and of Him, I am grateful to add my sure witness. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.


Notes

[1] Russell M. Nelson, “Think Celestial!,” Liahona, November 2023, 117, https://www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/study/liahona/2023/11/51nelson.

[2] Scott Taylor, “Elder Uchtdorf Offers Missionaries Simple Formula for Success,” Church News, Oct. 16, 2024, https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2024/10/16/elder-dieter-f-uchtdorf-provo-mtc-devotional-formula-for-success/.

[3] Russell M. Nelson, “The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again,” Liahona, November 2024, https://www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/study/liahona/2024/11/57nelson.

[4] See Russell M. Nelson, “Choices For Eternity,” [worldwide devotional for young adults, May 15, 2022], Gospel Library, https://www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/study/broadcasts/worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults/2022/05/12nelson.

[5] See Exodus 16:3.

[6] Exodus 16:14.

[7] Exodus 16:15.

[8] Exodus 16:15, footnote a.

[9] Doctrine and Covenants 90:24.

[10] See Exodus 14:21-22.

[11] See John 2:1-11.

[12] See Mark 5:21-43.

[13] See John 11:38-44.

[14] See Luke 7:11-16.

[15] See Ether 3:6.

[16] See Alma 55:4-9.

[17] See Alma 14:27-28.

[18] See 1 Kings 19:12-13.

[19] See Exodus 3:2-5.

[20] See John 20:11-17.

[21] See John 4:1-25.

[22] See Luke 8:26-29.

[23] See John 3:1-21.

[24] See Joseph Smith History 15-17.

[25] See Jeremiah 29:13.

[26] Jeremiah 29:11.

[27] Jeremiah 29:11, footnote a.

[28] Jeremiah 31:17.

[29] 2 Nephi 9:41.

[30] Mormon 6:17.

[31] Neal A. Maxwell, “But a Few Days,” [address to Church Educational System religious educators, Sept. 10, 1982], 9–10.

[32] Hebrews 9:11.

[33] Doctrine and Covenants 38:1.

[34] Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2004, https://www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/study/liahona/2004/05/preparation-for-the-second-coming.

[35] Doctrine and Covenants 100:15; See also Romans 8:28.

[36] Jeremiah 31:17.

[37] Isaiah 40:31.