Faith vs Doubt/Fear

When I was posting my Learning to Cope entries, I briefly mentioned the faith vs. doubt/fear argument or dilemma (I think. I actually didn't go back and reread the posts, but I think I mentioned it; if not, I am mentioning it now). The faith vs. doubt/fear issue is something that I have always struggled with even before we lost Ryan. I don't consider myself to be a "doubting Thomas" but more of an optimistic pessimist. I have a great deal of faith and trust, which is how I have overcome and survived all my trials and hardships, BUT when I look to the future decisions in my life, it is easy to let doubt or fear creep in.

I believe in the most recent LDS General Conference (or the one before) there were one or two talks by General Authorities on this issue. Again, I can not recall anything specific off the top my head, but I remember thinking that several of the talks were designed just for me.

So, why bring this argument up again? Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to accompany my Beehives (the 12-13 year old girls in our church) to the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor Center. We got to see a wonderful and extremely touching video on families and then we got to view sculptures of Christ. I am not sure how many sculptures of Christ were on display, but they were all done by the same artist. The display was called The Healing Power of Christ. The sculptures were amazing and depicted several of Christ's teachings and healings from the bible such as cleansing the leper, gathering the "hens and chickens," raising Lazarus from the dead, Christ in Gethsemane, and Christ carrying the Cross (just to name a few). Beside each sculpture, they had a little plaque with the scriptural reference and then either a quote or a question that applied the sculpture and reference to our life.

I did not have a favorite sculpture because they were ALL truly wonderful. However, on the plaque for the sculpture of Lazarus, there was a paragraph about faith vs. doubt. I have no idea if the paragraph is a quote by someone or from somewhere, but I really liked it especially since I have always had this faith vs. doubt/fear debate. So, I took a picture (don't know if that was allowed or not) of the paragraph so I could have it to record today. Here it is.

"Fear is one the most powerful and common human emotions. But is the opposite of faith. Faith in Jesus Christ gives us strength to face and conquer the challenges life brings. Having faith in Jesus Christ means relying completely on Him. Knowing that even though you do not understand all things, He does."

It is simple, concise, and SO true. I really liked it. :)