Trust
“Trusting God does not change our circumstances – it changes us.”
- Unknown
It’s easy to trust the Lord when our lives are lush and green, overflowing with blessing and prosperity… when we’re spiritually in a kairos hour… a time of fruitfulness and growth. In my daily quiet times with God I have said, “Lord, I trust You! You are good! You are sovereign and trustworthy. I bless Your leadership in my life. I will follow where you lead. My eyes are ever on Your face, Lord!”
And then the testing comes. The winds of adversity start to blow. I start to feel a winter season creep into my soul. Trials, circumstances of life, the things of this world, and thorns in my flesh begin to nudge at me. The fears and insecurities that only a short while ago were dissipated through the love of my Father, are now trying to once again get a foothold in my mind. I start to lose the tunnel vision that I have held for my beautiful Saviour, and instead look around at all the what-ifs and the whys. Before I know it, my heart can become downcast, and the things of this world are no longer strangely dim, but ever-looming in my mind.
Last night I called my mom to fret. A situation in life had caused me to take my eyes off of Jesus, and I just felt like fretting! Then I fretted to Mark. Today I fretted to God. Then all was quiet.
Then I heard a still small voice… “Are you done fretting?”
I paused to ask myself if I really was. “Yes.” (loooong sigh of martyrdom…)
“Are you ready to trust Me?”
And then I looked up… I mean really looked up. To His character and His faithfulness. To eternity and His promises. To His majesty and holiness. To His power and His protection. To His forgiveness and grace. To His breathtaking beauty and His awesome presence. In the brilliancy of who He is, all of the cares of this world began to grow dim once again. With each trial, I have an opportunity… an opportunity to choose to trust my heavenly Father with my heart. My mind. My will. My emotions.
Yes, the trusting is easy when it is not put to the test. It is in the face of not knowing what the future holds that brings the sweet fragrance of sacrifice to our trust.
“Through His voice we are deeply quieted and strengthened for all that lay ahead. The right attitude of heart does not seek to know the future, and does not need to know it in order to be at peace.” – Leanne Payne
“She is clothed in strength and dignity and she laughs at the future to come.” – Proverbs 31:25
“There is nothing – no circumstance, no trouble, no testing – that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But I refuse to become panicky, as I lift my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is.” – Alan Redpath
“Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Colossians 3:2
Look up!
That was beautiful, Missy. Thank you for sharing that. We so easily forget how big our God is, don’t we? I guess that’s why we need to meditate on his word day and night. Good words, my friend.
alison makes me think of what i heard someone say, don’t tell God how big your mountain is but tell your mountain how big your God is. may we magnify Him, focus so much on Him, that all else is out of view, dims, as you say. thanks for saying it so well. you have a gift.
Thanks for sharing, Miss. Remember that your posts are worthwhile even if only one person reads it and is blessed. What if your blog existed for the sole purpose of bringing one soul to the Savior? Would it be worth it? You bet it would. Keep writing down what God puts in your heart and trust Him with the results. In going along with what your Mom wrote, I have a plaque on my wall that used to be my Grandma Cutsforth’s and it reads, “It is not the greatness of my faith that moves mountains but my faith in the greatness of God.” I’m not sure if that is Biblical since I know that Jesus spoke to a man in the NT and stated that he had not seen such great faith even in Israel, but I still think that our faith doesn’t truly become great until we realize that it’s all dependent on the greatness of God. Lots of love!