Faith and Fear

This life is definitely a learning experience.

As big things have been happening lately, I've been able to learn from situations that I've found myself in. Today I want to share with you one thing that's been on my mind.

 Faith and fear cannot exist in the same heart at the same time.

Every time we are afraid,

"I'm afraid to go talk to that guy..."

"I'm afraid to ask her on a date..."

"I'm afraid that I'm going to be a  
TERRIBLE Sunday School teacher..."

remember this:

"Faith and fear cannot exist in the same heart at the same time, for one will dispel the other."

-President Thomas S. Monson

I have another blog where I actually explored this subject further. If you want to read that post, click here. :)

But mainly the point I want to get across is this:

We are all afraid. We all have that voice in the back of our heads saying things like, "That will never work," or "They are so much better than you," or whatever. As I was reminded today by a beautiful girl (a good friend of my brother's) on her blog (which I highly recommend reading, by the way: Forever Rachel), "as real as God  is, SO IS SATAN." 

HOWEVER.

God is real. Heavenly Father loves us. He is GOD. He is omniscient. He is omnipotent. He sees the end from the beginning. He sent His Son to this earth so that we could return to live with Him for eternity. Our Savior Jesus Christ descended below them all (even below the extreme lows we find ourselves in), and died for us that we might live. He is there to catch us when we fall. He is with us every step of the way.  As I know with all of my heart, and which Rachel has a testimony of as well, we can do hard things with our Savior.

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things with Christ, which strengtheneth me."

Believe me. I KNOW this life is hard. But with our Savior, we can do hard things. Seriously- read Rachel's blog. She explains this so much better than I do! Her story is real. She is amazing. She's my little brother's good friend, and I've never really known her other than that, but through reading about her experiences and her insights and seeing her attitude and strength through this beast of a trial that she's going through right now (read the blog), she has become such an inspiration to me in my life, as well as the lives of others. She is an angel. She is just like you and me. She has amazing faith and trust in God. And she is my reminder that I can do hard things. You can do hard things. She is doing extremely hard things.

We can do hard things.

We have a Savior, who loves us, and is working with us.

WE (Jesus + [insert your name here]) can do hard things.

Most importantly,

God loves us. He knows Rachel, you and I personally, and he loves each one of us with a love that we can't fully comprehend.

Tell fear to suck it.

Go forward with faith. :)

The sunset on the trees makes the branches look like they have gold on them. :)

life is beautiful.

life is good.

family is better. :)