The Key to Overcome Fear

   Gymnastics is a true passion of mine. I deeply and very sincerely love it. Nothing can match the adrenaline pumping through my veins as I am doing a double back-flip over ten feet in the air or swinging around the high bar, gaining speed in preparation for the next skill. I would be considered by some a adrenaline junky. I love the rush.
   It is often said of gymnastics that it requires 90% mental strength and 10% physical strength. I have found this to be extremely true. Especially on the Floor event. This is my best event but when I go into a competition, this is the event I am most worried about. As I am about to get onto this event, my heart starts to race, I have a tough time thinking rationally. I am overcome by fear.
   My family will try and quail my enveloping fear. They tell me that I will do great. This helps a little but in the back of my mind I can't get the fear out. My family, as loving as they are, don't know the difficulty I have and can't fully understand. It is when the coach sits me down and talks with me that I feel like I can do this. He knows the skills; he has done it all before.
   It is then that I head out to preform some of my best routines ever. It is the faith that I have in the words of my coach. As I put my faith in his words, I feel the consuming fear melt away.
   How many of us feel this same fear in the world around us? As the skills in gymnastics get harder, the fear rises. In the world today there are wars and political battles. Neither side willing to submit to the other. Tensions rise, civil wars break out, and lives are lost. It is hard not to feel the dark edges of fear begin to seep into our everyday lives.
   I have found Jesus Christ to be the coach in my life and in all of our lives. As I read from the Book of Mormon and the Bible I feel his words of comfort. He tells us in Doctrine and Covenants 68:6, "be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you"
   He has done it all before. He has worn the same shoes that I am wearing now. It is through His ultimate sacrifice that He understands everything that we go through. He knows my pains, my struggles, my guilt and shame, and my fears. It is when I turn to him in prayer that I can feel his love. I just have to listen to, and put faith in, the Coach.
   He knows me and he knows you. It is through him that we can feel relieved from the fear of this world. When we put faith in Jesus Christ, everything else in this world doesn't matter. The fear doesn't have to torment us anymore. Fear only goes as far as our faith will let it. God has presented a plan. He loves us, He knows us, and He is always with us. We just need to listen to the Coach