Doubt and Fear

I am very proud of my family. It’s  full of some great folks. I am particularly proud of one of my nieces. She is an impressive young lady Christian. I was particularly impressed by a Facebook post of hers this week. She said, in part: “I do have moments of Doubt. Fear. Questions . And I’m so thankful to have wise friends that have helped get my thoughts back on the right track and lead me to God’s word. ” She went on to say, “The Lord spoke to me the other day saying ‘You of little faith… You may not see what I am doing now, but you will understand later. Just rest and be strong in my grace. ‘ “

Shari has done what, I believe, many more of us who call ourselves Followers of Christ, need to do. We need to be courageous enough to admit that we have doubts, fears and questions. We need to be brave enough to answer the “How are you?” inquiries honestly. We need to be real. We need to stop believing that an admission of weakness or vulnerability is a disclaimer of our faith and trust in Jesus.

Our current “I’m blessed” response to every inquiry is not always credible or helpful. The effect is that , particularly the young, can conclude that they are not Christians because they struggle with doubt, fear and questions. Let me be personal and clear. I have  doubt and fear. I have frequent questions. I haven’t been willing to admit that often enough. My decades long walk with Jesus hasn’t been straight up hill or stumble free. My anchor is that I can look back on decades of struggle and see the presence of Jesus all along the way.  I can see situations which were terrible then, but in the context of passing time, were for my good.

Those of us who have longer walks with Christ have a responsibility to share the truth of the walk. It’s a cross carrying, doubt battling, day by day struggle. We need to share the miracles we have seen, buy also the valleys we have travelled.

If a twenty-something can do it, us sixty-somethings can as well. Thanks Shari.