Religious faith, by its very definition, is belief in that which cannot be seen and measured.
I have never understood how anyone can possibly believe that this grand and glorious cosmos we live in created ITSELF!
No? Well you should give it a go. I'm not asking you to believe anything you come up with, just to put yourself in a frame of mind where you COULD believe in it. I've always found that simple (or not-so-simple) exercise invaluable.
I ain't trying to tempt you to the other side. If your faith is true, and I am quite sure your's is, you have nothing to worry about as far as anything like flirting with heresy goes. More like an exercise in trying to pinpoint where others thinking goes wrong in matters of importance such as this. You'll be better prepared that way.
In any question such as this, it's important to remember how a question is phrased and what cultural implications are built into the assumptions the question elicits. For example, you phrased the question this way:
"How anyone can possibly believe that this grand and glorious cosmos we live in created ITSELF!"
The "possibly" describes an all-or-nothing way of looking at life, which is loaded enough in itself. But the more interesting word is "created." Created, by its very definition implies creator. So the answer is already loaded into the question. The way you phrase the question would imply that a lack of a creator implies the negation of the cosmos, or a better word, reality. Since I hope we can all agree on at least the existence of reality, the way you phrase your question either requires an existence of a creator or a negation of reality. The answer of that particular question must be predetermined solely for the way the question is phrased.
There are other ways of looking at it.
But you already know I disagree with your beliefs, we've argued quite a lot about it (in a good way, I hope!).
That being said, I whole-heartedly agree with your description "grand and glorious." Also, my arguments are designed to instigate doubt, because whatever I believe (which is not much), I am completely committed to humanity's exploration of reality. That is "grand and glorious" to me, and I welcome ALL avenues of that exploration.
