I Choose Faith

Every choice you make has an end result.
– Zig Ziglar

Gearing up for NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) this year, Amanda and I were trying to figure out what to do for a theme (posting every day is a little easier when you have a theme). Since she’s a little busy with a few big things right now, like getting married next month, I suggested that maybe she just write each day about why she loves her guy. She said something like that was a good idea and I could do it too.

Brett and I talked about this and he agreed it would be real weird for me to do 30 things I love about Amanda’s guy. Brett also said it’s a good thing Amanda would be doing this now while her relationship is still pretty much all public type stuff because in two months most of her good stories won’t be for public distribution. 😉 (oh, the stories we could share, but won’t).

Because most of the things I love about Brett now would make him blush if I put them in public, let alone make our mothers blush, I first thought I’d just do things I love about life (which would of course be related to Brett more often than not). But then I had another idea.

Back in March I surprised myself by remembering to tune in to the BYU devotional (Dallin R. Moody). I actually looked him up that afternoon to send him a thank you e-mail. He ended the devotional, after talking about what do you do when life does get worse and sharing some personal examples by saying:

Through our faith, courage, hope, and trust, God will bless us—no 
matter how cold our lives may feel. I know that God loves us. I know that He hears us and heals us. And I know that He is exalting us.

That hit home in so many ways. We all have trials. Some are more public than others. Sometimes it seems like life can’t get any colder, and then it does. Since that day I’ve had a graphic on my site and my screen desktop reminding me to choose trust, hope and faith. It is through that choice that we can find the warmth we need.

I’ve seen others on the internet talking about facing similar trials to some of the ones in my life right now. One woman asked how everyone overcame it. I know she was asking for specific steps or procedures she could check off. But every time I saw that I thought, “Faith.” Choosing faith is the only way I’ve ever overcome any trial I’ve ever faced. And it is a definite choice, one that is not always easy to make. But it’s the only way through, it’s the only way to overcome.

So I thought this month, when some of the trials of this year appear to be heading towards their apex, I’d write about the choices I make and have made, some big and some small. Happiness is a choice and I think we could all use a reminder of that from time to time.