"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11 · Old Testament
When Hope Has Gone Quiet
What Scripture Offers When You Stop Expecting Things to Get Better
Hope is not optimism. Optimism is a personality trait — hope is a theological conviction that God is still working even when you cannot see it. Scripture speaks to hope not as a feeling to manufacture but as a gift to receive, rooted in promises that don't depend on circumstances.
These passages are drawn from across scripture — Old Testament prophecy, the New Testament epistles, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the words of General Authorities who have spoken about hope in seasons of spiritual darkness.
Ether 12:4
Book of Mormon
"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men."
Moroni's definition of hope — not wishful thinking, but an anchor. Something that holds when the waves come. One of the most theologically rich passages on hope in all of scripture.
Romans 8:28
New Testament
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Not a promise that all things are good — but that God is working through all of them. The distinction matters enormously when you are in the middle of something that doesn't feel good at all.
Doctrine and Covenants 58:2–3
Doctrine & Covenants
"For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God."
The promise that the design exists even when it is invisible. For the seasons when hope requires seeing beyond what the eye can take in.
Lamentations 3:22–23
Old Testament
"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
Written from the rubble of Jerusalem's destruction — the most hopeless circumstances imaginable. And still, the writer found something new every morning. This passage was born in the dark.
President Russell M. Nelson
General Conference
"The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives."
From a General Conference address on joy and hope. Hope, in this framing, is less about what is happening and more about where you are looking while it happens.
What Has Hope Looked Like for You
Hope for the Future, Hope After Loss, Hope When Faith Is Thin
Sometimes hope is about the future — a situation, a relationship, an outcome you've been waiting on. Sometimes it's deeper than that: hope that God is real, that any of this means anything, that the darkness is not the end of the story. The passage that helps most depends on which kind of hope you need.
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Talk to Someone Who Kept Hoping When Everything Said Stop
FYS Premium lets you have a real conversation with Moroni, Paul, Nephi, Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, or Brigham Young about the passage you found. Ask Moroni how he kept writing when his entire civilization was gone. Ask Paul how he held onto hope from a Roman prison. Ask Emma Smith what it meant to hope through the years that broke so many others.
These are people who held onto hope in the dark — and found it to be real. Ask them how they did it.
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