Faith or fear? Faith or fear? Faith or fear? I CHOOSE FAITH!

Sometimes jumping into something new is scary.  It's foreign, it's different, it's out of our comfort zone. We feel so comfortable in our little bubbles and why bother leaving if we are already content right where we are?

Well, why not just try it... where is the harm?
I started thinking about physical walls... Why do we even have them? The answer I initially came up with: walls protect us. For example, walls support the roof of a house, preventing it from crushing us. They protect us from foreign objects that can potentially harm us. But my second thought on walls was that they separate things. Rooms, property, countries, etc. Walls represent the idea of defense, protection, and separation. So at first it seems completely natural and desirable to build up these walls. We have been hurt and we would love some seclusion from the rest of the world. We want to escape the pain and the struggles and wars all going on beyond our walls. We can't get hurt again if the enemy can't reach us, right?   But walls are good at being walls--they keep these people and things out.  But not only do they keep out the bad, they keep out the good as well!  Good things that could actually help us grow and become even stronger than we were before. We may feel safe in our little barricade, but we are missing out on everything else the world has to offer.

"Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism."  -RICHARD C. EDGLEY (First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric)

TEAR DOWN THOSE WALLS AND START EXERCISING FAITH! 

 It's hard; I know.  And it takes time--but we can always start today.  There's no better time than the present, yes? In the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 28, we read:

“For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have”

It takes TIME!  Very rarely we get all the answers at once, or know the exact solutions to the problems.  But the answers, the help, the feelings of comfort--they all come.
But we have to take those initial steps.  We have to get to work.

Often times the answers we are searching for don't come when we are still on our knees praying for them.  We have to put forth the effort and show God that we are willing to act--and as we begin to demonstrate our faith, the answers come.

This was the case for me in deciding to serve a mission.  Anyone who was around me could easily tell you that I had a difficult time in deciding to serve or not.  It wasn't a simple matter of just choosing the one that was right (to serve or not to serve), because both options were really good.  I made all the pro/con lists, prayed my heart out, read the scriptures, talked to loved ones, but I still felt that I hadn't received a good, solid answer.  And I DID NOT receive it, until I finally decided to act.  I had to make my decision, and truly put my faith in the Lord.  I had to have real intent... meaning I was going to do whatever the Lord told me, even if it wasn't what I maybe wanted or what was the easiest.  And let me tell ya, the very day I finally started truly acting, the answers and feelings came.  And it wasn't just a slight drizzle... they poured in.  I had never been so sure of something and so positive in my decision.  The answer came through my actions.  I know that as we decide and show our faith, the Lord will point us in the right direction.  If we make the right choice, we'll feel it in our hearts and minds... If we don't make the right choice: we won't feel at peace, we'll have a stupor of thought, we'll feel uneasy and feel like we still haven't received an answer.  Ultimately, it comes down to just moving.  Opening up, letting God in, and just trying.

We all have our walls--some have the Great Wall of China, others just a little picket fence--but all of us can overcome them and reach our highest potentials.  Choose faith. It's scary, it's new, but God is standing with us, and with the Lord, we will never fail.