Faith | There was continuity in his resolution to choose faith
“Your son has a condition called hemivertebrae and the situation is too complex to operate on. There isn’t anything we can do, but we’ll just watch him grow and see how the situation progresses,” these words from a well-meaning doctor at a children’s hospital.
We had taken our two-year-old son for an MRI to see why he was holding his head to one side.
As a father, I felt a rush of emotions and thoughts: Why him? Is there really nothing that can be done? What does this mean for our future? Where are you God? What am I supposed to do?
At that moment, my wife and I had a choice to make. We could feel like helpless victims, become jaded and angry with our son’s challenges and the medical community’s inability to help him, or we could turn to God and choose faith.
What was God’s plan for my precious boy? How might I align my will with God’s to make the best of this for my son and for my family? These were questions I wrestled with on a daily basis.
As we exercised faith, God sent help.
One such help appeared as I was finishing a worship session at our temple in Omaha, Nebraska. I was putting on my shoes and struck up a conversation with the man next to me. It turned out that he was an associate of a world-renowned therapist on these types of spinal abnormalities.
There was something we could do to help my son!
Through this experience I learned that there are several choices we have regarding our personal faith journeys, and it appears as a continuum.
Faithless: The choice to abandon our faith because we don’t understand, or we can’t immediately see God’s hand in our lives is one choice. (I don’t recommend this.)
Feeble Faith: Along the continuum this may be where we want to believe and exercise faith in Jesus Christ, but we are unsure if we should commit emotionally to turning over our challenges and hearts to him.
Faithful: At this stage we feel like we are aware of the activities God wants us to do to demonstrate our willingness to submit to his will and follow his commandments. I think of this as a dutiful phase but it can still lack the kind of power required to turn our hearts completely to God and accept his will.
Faith-filled: During this stage we are seeking to not only do all the things that we are “supposed” to do as followers of Jesus Christ, but we do them with energy, conviction and love. We don’t just pray; we pour our hearts out to God and speak to him as a loving heavenly father. We don’t just attend church; we worship with a longing to feel God’s love and acceptance of our best efforts, and to forgive us for our shortcomings.
Where do you find yourself on the faith continuum?
Wherever you are and whatever you are experiencing in life, please know that faith is a choice and choosing to live a faith-filled life will open the windows of heaven and allow you to see God’s hand more fully in your life.
My little boy is now a 22-year-old man. He has faithfully served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is attending college.
God is good and God is kind. Please choose faith, my friends.
Guest Spiritual Life writer Dave Specht is a member in the Pasco North Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints. Questions and comments should be directed to editor Lucy Luginbill in care of the Tri-City Herald newsroom, 4253 W. 24th Avenue, Kennewick, WA 99338. Or email lluginbill@tricityherald.com.