Blessed is she who trusts in Him

Image created by De Yarrison

A few posts back, I wrote about faith, and, pulling from the example of the apostle Thomas, about a lack of faith. I wrote: "If it doesn’t make sense to me, I won’t believe it. If I haven’t seen it or experienced it personally, then I will not relate to it. And there I stay in my comfortable and predictable existence. Only, comfortable, predictable, and in control is NOT the way God calls me to live!"

Faith and trust, as far as I can understand them, are intricately connected, woven together in a mutually supportive pattern. They increase or decrease in correlation with one another. And trying to figure out which comes first, sounds a lot like the chicken and egg debate. I need more faith in order to trust the Lord. And as I trust the Lord more, my faith in Him increases.

God tells us to be faithful in small matters so we will grow to be faithful in bigger matters (scripture reference Luke 16:10). And that is how it happened for me. I began by actively trusting God in the ‘small matters’ of my daily life, growing in faith and trusting Him with increasingly 'bigger matters'. A small matter might be arguments between my children. When my kids are arguing, rather than intervene and insert my voice into the mix, I began to say silently “come Holy Spirit, guide their hearts” or “Jesus, I trust in You.” And guess what? He handles it every single time! Even better that I would've handled it, imagine that?!

As God revealed to me His constancy, His faithfulness and His concern over the details of my life, my trust (and my faith) in Him grew more and more complete. I am certain, without a doubt, that He can, will, and does ultimately work all things for my good and for His glory. All things, including such “things” in my life as addiction in my family, a bumpy marriage, and just two weeks ago, emergency surgery when my mom’s appendix ruptured.

[tweet "God can, will, and does ultimately work all things for my good and for His glory."]

"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusts in him." Psalm 34:8

So, how do we begin? What does trusting the Lord look like in practice? Below are a few steps to try out.

Actively call on the Lord each day, placing a particular situation, relationship, worry, etc into His hands. Being the patient and non-intrusive God that He is, He is waiting for you and for me to invite Him in to the details of our days. This might sound like "I trust you with _________today, Lord, take care of everything!" or "Jesus, thank you for handling ___________ [situation, relationship, worry, fear] today.” or simply "Jesus, I place my trust in You"
Read the scriptures that tell us who God is. That help us get to know Him and expand our willingness to place our trust in Him. (Psalm 8 is one of my favorites. And Psalm 23. And James 1:17. And about a hundred more…do a google search :-) )
Once you've placed some particular detail of your day in His hands, stop worrying about it! This may be the hardest part of trust! Let go and let God. Place your mental energy elsewhere. Meditative prayers like the rosary or Divine Mercy chaplet are helpful here.
When the worry or stress creeps back in, gently remind yourself that you are trusting God with this now. For me, that usually sounds something like, “De, you can let that go now. God's got this!"

Ponder: What situation or relationship have I been reluctant to place completely in God's hands?