When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned

Your hope can be stronger than your circumstances.

At the end of Moses’s life, the Lord took him to the top of Mount Nebo and showed him the promised land.

After forty years of leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, Moses finally saw the land God had promised.

But then the Lord said:

“I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.”

Moses saw the promised land, but he did not enter it.

That is a hard thought.

Moses had sacrificed so much. He had led, served, pleaded, prayed, endured, and followed the Lord for decades. And yet his life still did not end exactly the way someone might have expected.

That teaches an important truth:

Faith does not mean everything in life goes the way we hoped.

Faith means we keep trusting God even when it does not.

Everyone eventually faces moments like that. A prayer is not answered the way we wanted. A door closes. A relationship changes. A dream takes longer than expected. Something good is withheld. Something painful remains.

In those moments, it can be tempting to wonder if God has forgotten us.

But Moses’s story reminds us that God can still be loving, faithful, and good even when the journey does not look the way we imagined.

President Howard W. Hunter taught:

“Please remember this one thing. If our lives and our faith are centered upon Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right.”

That does not mean nothing will hurt.

It means nothing faithful is wasted.

It means no righteous sacrifice is forgotten.

It means Christ can make wrong things right, broken things whole, and unfinished things complete.

President Uchtdorf once shared the story of Great-Aunt Rose, who had faced many disappointments in her life. When her niece asked how she kept going, Aunt Rose explained:

“Faith led to hope. And faith and hope gave me confidence that one day everything would make sense, that because of the Savior, all the wrongs would be made right.”

That is the kind of hope Moses must have had.

His joy was not only in reaching a place. His joy was in loving God, serving His people, and trusting the Lord’s plan.

Your life may not go exactly the way you planned either.

But if your life is centered on Jesus Christ, your story is still safe in His hands.

Reflection

When has something in your life not gone the way you hoped? How could faith in Jesus Christ help you see that experience differently?

Today’s Challenge

Think of someone you know who has shown faith even when life was hard. Write down what you admire about their example and one way you can follow it this week.

Closing Thought

Moses did not enter the promised land in mortality, but he was not forgotten by God.

Neither are you.

When life does not go as planned, keep your hope centered in Jesus Christ. He knows the end from the beginning, and He can lead you to something greater than you can see right now.

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