Fear

After a conversation Ryan and I had last night and some reflection on some of the tools the devil uses to draw us away from God my thoughts increasingly were turned towards the subject of fear. John A. Widtsoe said, "Fear is the devil's first and chief tool" and Joseph Smith said, "So long as men are under the law of God, they have no fear". I remember having a conversation with a friend whose little boy was scared of swimming but the year previously there had been no fear and she pointed out it was interesting that as her baby got older he became more fearful, which shows you right there why the scriptures tell us to become like little children. They are so trusting and it's only as we grow that fear is allowed to hold us back from our potential. We can be striving as well, to do the things we should be and growing our testimony of the Saviour and it is fear that can undermine that. A big area where the devil can attack our marriages is through fear. You hear so much about failing marriages today and divorce that it is easy to be fearful that that's what will happen to you. I believe if you worry the whole time about divorce then you're setting yourself up to potentially go down the slippery slope towards that conclusion... I know I had to battle that fear when I first got married, not because there was anything happening in our marriage but just because I'd heard a lot about it and could see it happening to others and I let the fear that it could happen to us creep in. Do we spend time worrying that we're not spending enough time with our children or giving our babies enough stimulation to make them "smarter" that we let the fun moments pass us by? Do we spend so much time being fearful that we cannot accomplish what is required of us when we're given a church calling/responsibility that we miss the opportunities it provides us to give service and learn more about ourselves and our relationship with our Heavenly Father. The big fear I have to overcome now is the fear of Satan being subtly let into my home to attack my family. I may pass judgement on things they're doing thinking I'm helping when really my fear is making me paranoid and causing more disharmony, distrust and the exact thing I'm trying to avoid. The blessing is that if you can recognise it then you have Heavenly Father's full support as long as you're willing to get on your knees and ask for it. He does not want you to fail.