You have undoubtedly come across the story, if not indeed a poem, that tells of a dream a person had: He or she was walking along a beach with Jesus (God, the Lord, etc.). He or she noticed that at times there were two sets of footprints and at other times only one. Wondering why, he or she asks Jesus. He explains that he had carried him or her during times of struggle.
Rachel Aviv has written a fascinating article about this story at the Poetry Foundation website. It sheds a lot of light about how inspirational ideas spread. More importantly, it offers insight into how we might think we had an original inspiring idea was someone else's idea that has somewhere along the way entered our consciousness.
Modern communications, particularly television and the Internet probably fuel this phenomenon like never before.
My name is Dan Porter. I have always believed in God. And I have always been a Christian, which means I have always believed, at some level of understanding, Christian assertions about Christ. But during all of my adult life—I am now 65—I have struggled with many seeds of doubt brought on by modern science, objective history, the question of why a loving God would allow so much suffering in the world and difficulties with seemingly conflicting moral precepts. 
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