Choose Faith

We all have moments of doubt. It seems like the stronger we become the harder Satan tries to hit us with possible faults in our thinking or in the gospel. He wants us to weaken, to question, to worry, and to fear. But we don't have to. This is not God's plan.

God wants us to choose faith.

I have experienced many times when my testimony hung by a thread. That thread was usually just knowing that there was a god. I couldn't believe otherwise because He had shared His love with me so many times, it would be rebellious for me to deny it. I had no desire to deny it because His love was the sustaining and motivating power in my life. At times like this I found myself lining up the teachings of the church with the philosophies of the world, looking for any clear proof that one was true or that the other wasn't. This was a low time for me, and I prayed fervently to Heavenly Father to help me recognize and understand truth, whatever it may be.

The answer I received was a surprising one. My initial answer wasn't some grand confirmation of the truthfulness of the gospel. This came later, slowly, over time. What I received was the answer that the world doesn't have any more physical proof for their philosophies than we have for ours. Maybe this sounds strange to you, but for me at that time, it gave me hope. What I was taught was that I have a choice. I could either choose to believe the things I had been taught through my childhood, or I could choose to believe the theories of the world. It was that simple.

I chose faith.

I chose faith because I knew that Heavenly Father loved me and that I could receive answers to my prayers. I chose faith because I knew that over time He would help confirm to me that I had made the right choice. I chose faith, and I have felt the blessings pour in from that decision.

I still have moments of weakness. Like I said, the stronger I become in the gospel, the harder Satan fights to tear me down and pull me off the team of the Lord. But this is the thought that I have every time a doubt enters my mind: I choose faith.

I choose faith because now I have had many things confirmed to me and have found solutions to problems I didn't understand. This allows me to feel confidence that even if something doesn't make sense to me right now, there are answers and God will share them with me over time. I choose faith, because when I live the principles of the gospel, I feel joy and peace. That is something I have never experienced in my choices to participate in worldly things. "Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." (3 Nephi 14:20) I choose faith because I know that I will be blessed for that choice, and that someday I won't need faith anymore because I will have a perfect knowledge.