Falling out of bed.
   Years ago I heard a talk with this quote which impressed me. "Why do people fall away from the Church? For the same reason they fall out of bed...they are not in it far enough.
   In the Book of Mormon the prophet Alma teaches how to develop faith, in Alma chapter 32. He teaches that faith can be developed and one can come to know truth and compares it to planting a seed and nurturing it. If it is a good seed it begins to grow and will grow into a strong plant. If not nurtured...it may still be a good seed but dies due to lack of attention. He goes on to teach that this is not just for people who want to develop faith but is a lifelong process to keep us strong in our faith.
   I work with a lot of people in the Church. It is easy to know who will eventually quit going to church or to tell which will complain and be a little rebellious. They are those who do not read the scriptures and pray daily. They figure attending church once a week should fill all of their spiritual needs. When they have problems they usually blame it on the Church or on God...it is not their fault, or they wonder...why me?
   Everyone of us will have challenges in life, challenges that test our faith and testimony of the gospel. In the early days of the Church Oliver Cowdrey began to have some questions...even after seeing an angel of God and the Gold Plates. The Lord through Joseph Smith told him to cast his mind back to the hour he first believed: "Did I not speak comfort to your soul, did I not cause your bosom to burn?"
   The Book of Mormon often uses the words...remember. We are also promised that if we will study the scriptures daily and pray daily...more than once, in fact keeping a prayerful heart that we will be given power to rise above all our challenges and temptations.
   There is nothing wrong with having questions...if we are willing to seek the answers. Often we want God to come down and answer our prayers as He did for Joseph Smith. When God gives us answers: through the scriptures, through prophets or even past personal prayers, He expects us to use those things to find answers...we need to do our part, to search and then ask for confirmation of their truth. Then He will send the comforter to give us the assurance and comfort we need.
   God can see down the road and over the horizon. He has given us all we need to know Him and His gospel...for salvation. It is available to us. He has done this because of His love for us and His desire to help us through this journey called life. And, He has commanded us to pray daily and ask for the things of which we are in need....in other words to recognize our need for Him and to be grateful for His daily help. As we do this we remain humble and our faith in Him grows and grows to be a strong and healthy plant and we never need to worry about falling out of bed.