"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Romans 15:4)

I "...do not desire to murmur" (Alma 58:35), but I also want to be really honest with myself and with you. I usually post, or perhaps, begin a post with how some days are hard and then I give some spiritual insight that I had received during the day or during my scripture study. Well, some days, to be 100% honest, no matter what I try to do (like: I meet a couple of friends for lunch, I exercise, I read and study my scriptures, I help my son with his class assignments, I do a ton of laundry and I watch a happy movie will folding the clothes, and more than likely, I have had more than one "coke" already) I just can't get that dark feeling and the hopelessness to go away. So, what should I do?

Okay, here's honesty. I do exactly what I always do, which is, I turn to the scriptures. Here is why:

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." (Romans 15:4)

I search the scriptures because they were written, all those years ago, for my learning!  And I might have hope through patience and comfort... But on some days, patience and comfort don't quite cut it for me, or perhaps the reality is, I don't have patience or comfort. So I read some more...

"And it came to pass..." (see Old Testament 336 times; New testament 60 times; Book of Mormon 1,070 times; D&C 4 times; Pearl of Great Price 53 times). Sometimes, I just have to say, Really?! REALLY?! Is it that simple? Perhaps. But the beauty is, it really does eventually pass. Sometimes quicker and sometimes not so.

On those not so quick to pass days I may read, "Nevertheless" (that is another great word found frequently in the scriptures) "I know in whom I have trusted" (2 Nephi 4:19). And there are times that even though I know this, that I can trust God, I am still stuck in what feels like a dark abyss.

So, what do I do then? Honestly, I just keep trying. And on those really tough days, I might say, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7).  I love thinking that "I have kept the faith", even if I have done nothing else, keeping the faith is a lot of work.

I will end where I began, with being totally honest. On those tough days that just never seem to end, if I have done all I can and have "finished my course", I do what Pres. Monson once suggested: "When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on" (Joy in the Journey). And I call it good, because if I have "endured it well" (on those dark days, "well" is saying a lot) then I may or may not have another "coke", and rest up for the next "good fight".

I'll read the scriptures some more the next day...they were written, after all, "for our learning".