IN MY OWN CASE, THE FOUNDATION STONE OF FREEDOM FROM FEAR IS THAT OF FAITH: A FAITH THAT, DESPITE ALL WORDLY APPEARANCES TO THE CONTRARY, CAUSES ME TO BELIEVE THAT I LIVE IN A UNIVERSE THAT MAKES SENSE.
TO ME, THIS MEANS A BELIEF IN A CREATOR WHO IS ALL POWER, JUSTICE, AND LOVE; A GOD WHO INTENDS FOR ME A PURPOSE, A MEANING, AND A DESTINY TO GROW, HOWEVER LITTLE AND HALTINGLY, TOWARD HIS OWN LIKENESS AND IMAGE. BEFORE THE COMING OF FAITH I HAD LIVED AS AN ALIEN IN A COSMOS THAT TOO OFTEN SEEMED BOTH HOSTILE AND CRUEL. IN IT THERE COULD BE NO INNER SECURITY FOR ME.
"WHEN I WAS DRIVEN TO MY KNEES BY ALCOHOL, I WAS MADE READY TO ASK FOR THE GIFT OF FAITH. AND ALL WAS CHANGED. NEVER AGIN, MY PAINS AND PROBLEMS NOTWITHSTANDING, WOULD I EXPERIENCE MY FORMER DESOLATION. I SAW THE UNIVERSETO BE LIGHTED BY GOD'S LOVE; I WAS ALONE NO MORE."
"I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish."
