doubt not, fear not.

"and jesus answered and said unto them, verily, i say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not, if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done." 

-matthew 21:21

"doubt not, but be believing. come unto the lord with all your heart." 

-mormon 9:27

"look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."

-doctrine and covenants 6:36

i don't know if you can tell, but lately i've been studying about doubt. 

doubt cripples our faith, weakens our self-confidence, distorts our reasoning, and all-around handicaps us. 

god is perfect. he cannot lie. his promises are sure. so when we doubt what he has promised us, we are placing parameters on our heavenly father. isn't god the most powerful, omnipotent, loving person in the universe? so why would we do that? why would we ever believe that there was something god couldn't do? a miracle that he couldn't perform?

well, of course we don't do it intentionally, (at least i hope not) but it does happen. i made a list in my study journal yesterday of promises that i've received from heavenly father that i've doubted. i listed 7 things. 7 promises that i received personally from heavenly father via revelation, inspiration, patriarchal blessing, etc. SEVEN THINGS! seven major parts of my life that i, for whatever reasons, decided weren't ever going to happen, weren't right, or that i had missed out on. 

so i made this resolution to stop doubting right then. i believe that god is a god of miracles. i trust that god's timetable is his own and that his promises are binding (if we do our part, of course). 

so after i make this resolution, i am happy and content. i have a dove chocolate next to me and decide to ask a question on it. (**side note: ask yourself a random question next time you eat a dove chocolate. they always have random phrases on the underside of the wrapper. for some inexplicable reason, the candy always gives you the answer that you need.)  initially, it was hard for me to come up with a question that didn't imply doubt. so i simply asked, "what would god have me know"? 

dove chocolate: trust in those that you love. 

boom! exactly what i had been studying for so long, literally wrapped up in one little line. trust in those that you love. we love our heavenly father. it only makes sense to trust him unconditionally. 

"BE NOT AFRAID, ONLY BELIEVE."

-mark 5:36