Can I Trust God?
From the very beginning, I promised to keep my blog posts real, to be transparent, and to walk this journey of focusing on what matters with you. Therefore, I feel compelled to share with you my “stuff” … you know those things that come out of nowhere, blindside you, and leave you with a decision to make. Can I trust God? Can I trust Him with this or will I let fear creep in, doubt permeate my thoughts, and worry wiggle its way into my days?
If you know me, you know I have walked through a few hard seasons. Some of them much harder than others. Some were brought on by my choice to sit in the driver’s seat of my life and some were placed there to teach me Who should be sitting in that driver’s seat.
Recently as I was spending the morning in the written Word and fellowshipping with the Living Word, He very sweetly began to remind me that He wastes nothing. As I began writing in my journal, I realized that all the struggles, pain, rejection, loss, tribulation, discouragement – all of it – God had used for good. Oh yes, Satan saw it as an opportunity to devour me. And honestly, there were times when I was tempted to let him. But God…
My mind spiraled backwards as the memories of difficult times flooded my mind. But almost as quickly as they came, the revelation came that God had used every bit of it for good in my life. Oh, I knew that about some of the things – but He reminded me of all the things. He had used all of it to strengthen me, to grow me, to mold me and to prepare me for the more that He has for me. You see, I believe that. You have heard me say it. I believe that God has more for all of us and He is inviting us into more with Him. His hand is outstretched, and He is waiting for our, “Yes!”.
The next entry in my journal is Isaiah 26:3-4,
“You will keep Him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts You.
Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.”
Can I trust God? What does it mean to trust Him? Yes, we place our trust in our Savior when we invite Him into our heart and receive salvation. That is such a gift and we praise Him for it!! But after that, when the storms of life come – can we trust God? Can we commit ourselves fully to Him? Can we truly rely on Him?
The day after I wrote out that verse, Tom and I sat in the doctor’s office as he began to describe a “spot of concern” in my abdomen. To say I was caught off guard, is an understatement. I feel great and have had no ongoing issues. Very recently, I had experienced severe pain, got though it and went on with life. It happened again and that led me to just have it checked out. The doctor sent me for a CT scan where they discovered the totally unrelated spot, aka mass. (I don’t believe that pain was a coincidence. The mass is small and it would have been a while before the symptoms would have led the doctors to it. Thank you, Lord!)
Can I Trust God?
Yes, I can! And I do. The doctor’s office called me one afternoon and asked me to come the next morning. When that happened, we all knew something was up. What else could it be, but the “c” word. I knew right then I had a choice – fear or trust. I leaned toward trust, but my mind ran rampant – Tom, my children, my precious grands – all I want to tell them, teach them about the Lord, share with them… the book I haven’t started, the clients I am working with, the messages I am called to share…etc. When I woke up, I knew I had a decision to make. We were meeting with the doctor in a few hours to find out what the CT scan showed. So, I got on my knees in our bedroom and told God that I trusted Him and whatever this was, it was His.
As the doctor shared, “there is a spot”, I whispered, it’s not my spot – it’s God’s spot. As I share this news with others, I tell them that I have given this to God. They expect me to be fearful and worried, but honestly, I am not. Why? People would understand if I were.
Can I trust God?
Yes! You see, every hard day and every hard season has taught me little by little that I can trust Him more and even more still. He has never left me or forsaken me. He has been faithful to carry me through whatever comes my way. Without difficulties in my life, I would have never known how good He truly is. He uses everything for good in our life and He will use this spot as well – whether it is gone on my next scan or whether there is a diagnosis. No matter what – I know that I can trust God to love me, to be with me and to carry me through.
And I know that you can trust Him, too. I know you have had seasons where you couldn’t feel Him, heartbreak you do not understand, and difficulties you never imagined you would experience. But through it all – you can trust Him. Placing our trust in Him doesn’t mean our life will be easy or things will go our way. Matter of fact, we are promised tribulation. But placing our trust in Him means we take our eyes off our struggle and place it squarely on YAH, the Lord! We soon discover that He is faithful to use it for good as we come to know Him more. When we lock eyes with Him, we get to experience His peace, His comfort, and His presence. Today, if you are struggling – run to Him! His arms are open and He is waiting.
My life verse is Isaiah 40:31…
“But those who wait (hope, trust) on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Can we trust God? Yes, when we build our life on the Rock. Jesus is everything we need. Today, His grace is sufficient, and we can all find rest in Him.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25
We all have stuff. I am praying for you and your stuff today. God is able and He is faithful. I pray this post has encouraged you to lean in and trust Him a little more today!
Love you-
Pam
Note from Pam:
Thank you for reading this blog post. God is faithful and we can trust Him - even when we do not understand. I would love to come alongside and help you find your way there. If that is of interest to you, let’s chat. Just click here.
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