What to do when adversity strikes? There is only one thing to do. Stand steady and see it through. Stay steadfast, constant, and true. The real tragedy in the whirlwinds of life comes only when we allow them to blow us off our true course.

Admittedly, repentance is not always easy; I suppose it would not be true repentance if it were. It can also take a longer time than we think or hope. There can be missteps along the way, when we falter or lose heart, but we can reset our course and move forward again, even if it is only one small step at a time. As well as praying for forgiveness, we can also plead for courage, and it will come. If we do so, steady but surely, we will rise from the miry depths of sin and emerge into the sunny uplands of forgiveness and hope.

It is a great tragedy when those who are afflicted with adversity or a source of hopelessness turn their backs on prayer. To their peril, they ignore that spiritual lifeline just at the time when their attention to it most needs to be intensified. By so doing they cut themselves of from revelation and inspiration and deprive themselves of hearing the Lord's voice. They give up the prospect of gaining the very hope and comfort for which their hearts yearn.

Single parents, I testify that as you do your very best in the most difficult of human challenges, heaven will smile upon you. Truly you are not alone. Let the redemptive, loving power of Jesus Christ brighten your life now and fill you with the hope of eternal promise. Take courage. Have faith and hope. Consider the present with fortitude and look to the future with confidence.

It was in grasping the reality of his divine parentage as a son of God, as well as his relationship with Christ and the promise of eternal life, that Moses was able to resist the challenge presented by Satan.

Hope, like faith, is a principle of action. It motivates and inspires. We do not sit in our armchairs and hope for hope; we get up and go to work.

The truth is that our only safety, our only security, our only hope is to hold fast to that which is good. As the mists of darkness gather around us, we are only lost if we choose to let go of the iron rod, which is the word of God.