006 I When Faith Feels Fragile: How to Support Your Missionary Through Doubt

 Join the Returned Missionary Moms  Facebook Community Why faith questions commonly emerge during or after missionary service How faith development frameworks can help normalize spiritual questioning without prescribing outcomes What strengthens connection—and what unintentionally creates distance—during belief differences How mothers can remain grounded in their own faith while honoring their child’s agency Why relationship safety matters more than certainty during seasons of spiritual change Referenced Works & Frameworks: Brian D. McLaren, Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It A developmental framework describing how many people move through stages of faith, doubt, and reintegration, emphasizing compassion, humility, and integrity rather than fear or coercion. Patrick Q. Mason, Planted: Belief and Belonging in an Age of Doubt Explores how belief, doubt, and belonging interact in modern religious life, especially within the Latter-day Saint tradition, and why questions do not disqualify faith or devotion. David B. Ostler, Bridges: Ministering to Those Who Question Offers practical and relational guidance for supporting loved ones who question their faith, focusing on empathy, listening, and preserving connection over debate or correction. James W. Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning A foundational theory describing faith as a lifelong process of meaning-making and trust, rather than a fixed set of beliefs, helping normalize spiritual development across the lifespan.