Puyallup Elementary Blog

I have to say that as we approach Easter, the topic of doubt is one of the last things on my mind. After all, Easter is all about new life, hope, and resurrection!  

But if we look closer at the Easter story, doubt is in fact a common experience for many of the characters, including and especially those who come face to face with the risen Jesus. Whether that be Peter, “the Rock,” in days leading up to the events of Easter (Matthew 16:22), Thomas (John 20:24-25), or the disciples (Luke 24:36-39), each of them struggled with doubt in some way.    

Our spiritual theme for the month of April is Unshakeable Faith, which we often think of as the absence of doubt. The Bible shows, however, especially through the Easter story, that some of the heroes and heroines of our faith had faith even in the presence of their doubt.  

So our focus for the month of April is the question, “How do we have unshakeable faith in the presence of our doubt?” The good news of Easter is that, through Christ’s resurrection, there is now nothing—including our doubts—that can separate us from the love of God. The resurrection created a pathway for our doubts to become something that draws us closer to Him rather than something that stops us in our tracks. Having faith in the midst of our doubts first begins with accepting and inviting into all areas of our lives the One who created this pathway for us. This month, as students learn more about the Easter story, they will be given opportunities to accept and invite Jesus into all areas of their lives, especially those in which they doubt.  

In addition to that, the Bible gives specific ways that we can respond to our doubt. So, throughout the month of April, our students will learn about characters in the Bible who had enough courage to acknowledge and explore their doubt with God (John 20:27), who asked God for faith (Luke 17:5), and who reached out to others for help and support while experiencing moments of extreme doubt (Matthew 11:1-6). Finally, students will read about historical figures like English missionary Hudson Taylor, who exhibited unshakeable faith in an incredibly difficult situation.  

My hope and prayer this month is that our doubts will invite us to go deeper into God’s love for us, that even in the places of our greatest doubt we could exclaim with unshakeable faith, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”