The spirit of fear

It is so strange to me how snippets of life here and there end up linking together into big life concepts.

I was talking to my all time bestest friend Alison from Angel Fire last night on the phone and she worriedly told me she wishes we would move back up there. Now, this is a conversation we have just about every time we talk - I think it is a sweet way that we communicate about how much we miss eachother without getting sappy. But this time her request had a grave concern attached to it. She had read an article where the author had stated his opinion that the area around Houston would be the next place for a terrorist attack to occur due to the connection with important ports and resources, as well as the Bush family. I kind of blew off the conversation and we started talking about other things, but her fear for us stuck in the back of my mind.

Today, Jon was home from work on a rare day off and we went back to Kemah - our new hang-out I guess, hoping to experience the fun squirty, splashy fountains with the kids on such a hot day. Much to our dissapointment, they were under repair. We were lucky enough to be able to visit the Sting Ray Reef. It is really neat - you are able to pet and feed the sting rays. They don't feel anything like I expected them to based on their appearance. Darion practically dove into the water after his initial worries were over. No fear there!

Then, this afternoon, I sat down for a quiet moment and being the good little Molly Mormon that we all know I am, I was reading my Ensign. (I opened the plastic mailer cover first...It isn't quite mid-July yet, so I am doing better than usual in my intentions to read it through each month.) I read the first lesson on Heeding the Words of the Prophets by President Uchtdorf. Within the talk there was a scripture from 2Timothy1:7-8. I reads like this:

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord."

This really spoke to me. If we have a sure testimony of the Lord, we have no reason to let our fears take over our lives. We are given the blessing of power, love and a sound mind. We can't let our fears take over, no matter what they are about - political, economical, personal...or simply the fear of a slimy animal.

Anyway, that is my rambling and rare deep thought for now.