In looking at the weather forecast for the day on Thursday, I noticed that heavy winds were projected. My mind started thinking about the potential for downed trees and power outages. Over the years, I’ve been fascinated by wind storms that knock down trees because I’ve wondered why it is that certain wind storms can knock down a tree while other wind storms can’t. A few years ago, there was a wind storm in Davis County that knocked down some pretty big trees and I thought, “Why is it that other strong storms didn’t knock down those trees but this one did?” I suppose maybe there’s a cumulative effect. The tree was weakened over time, until finally a storm came that was able to knock it down. Perhaps it’s just a matter of a storm hitting in such a way that the tree, which had survived previous storms, wasn’t able to survive that one. To look at some of these trees after they’d fallen, it was truly amazing that such a result was possible. The trees were so big and appeared to be so strong, yet they couldn’t withstand the storm.

This got me thinking about faith — specifically faith in Jesus Christ. We can have strong faith, enduring many trials throughout our lives while maintaining that faith, and then a particular trial comes along that we are unable to overcome. Our faith shatters. Maybe it’s like my thoughts on the tree. Faith is gradually weakened over time until finally a trial comes along that destroys it. Maybe a particular trial simply hits in just the way necessary to tear down the faith. I look at friends and acquaintances that I’ve known throughout my life and I’m truly amazed at some of them who have lost their faith. I remember them when I was in high school. I remember them when I was in college. They were inspirations to me because of the faith I saw them demonstrate. They were like the big, strong trees. How could they fall? How was it that their faith couldn’t survive?

This can all be pretty disconcerting. Thinking about trees, it’s hard to protect them from wind storms. I think you just have to understand that some will fall during a particular storm. That appears to be how it is with faith as well. Some people will simply succumb during a particular trial.

But is it as difficult to protect faith as it is trees? It doesn’t have to be.

One huge difference between trees and faith is that it’s always possible to strengthen faith. Our faith may diminish at times because of various reasons, like the trials we face, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be strengthened again. How can our faith be strengthened? One way is by continuously recognizing God’s hand in our lives and not diminishing it.

Last Sunday, I watched a movie called “The Cokeville Miracle.” I saw it in the theaters several years ago but wanted to watch it again. The main character refused to believe that there was a God, much less a God that cared about him. Then, there was a bomb threat at the elementary school his children went to. As a side note, the elementary school the movie was filmed at was Whitesides Elementary in Layton, which I have a particular interest in because that’s where my wife went. My kids also went there for a year.

The bomb explodes in a classroom full of children, but miraculously, none of the children died. In fact, the only two people who died were the two responsible for bringing the bomb to the school and threatening the children.

Later on, children started to reveal things that happened while they were in the middle of the crisis. They said angels (revealed later to be family members who had passed away) helped guide and comfort them throughout the experience to keep them safe. Further evidence was presented that showed how unlikely it was that the children survived and pointed to some sort of divine intervention. Despite all his previous doubts, the man was finally able to acknowledge God’s hand in his life.

We may not have such an extreme situation happen to us, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more than enough evidence of God’s hand in our lives. We just have to be willing to see and accept it.

The more you can recognize God’s hand in your life and in the lives of those around you, the harder it is to lose your faith. No matter what trial you will face, and no matter how devastating it might be, you will always have the examples of seeing God’s hand in your life that you will not be able to forget. I have come to realize that those examples come to my mind frequently in the face of challenges, serving to strengthen me.

There are many other things we can do to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. Spending time reading the scriptures and attending church, praying and serving others are just a few important examples. Strengthening faith takes effort, which dissuades some people. But I know that we must do all that we can because you never know what trials you might come up against, and if you aren’t prepared enough, one of those trials could prove too difficult to overcome.

Someone once told me of their journey from active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to outside the church and in some respects opposed to it. I asked a simple question. Were you going to church before you ultimately decided to leave it? The person told me no. This person proceeded to try to explain how busy their life was at the time and how they simply didn’t have time to go to church. Busy as this person might have been, not going to church was an important decision, and I believe one that helped serve as a catalyst to the destruction of faith. When we don’t do the things necessary to strengthen our faith, can we be surprised when it weakens and is eventually destroyed?

A Book of Mormon passage comes to mind:

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” (Helaman 5:12)

Contact Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @rbcomer8388 and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rbcomer8388.

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