“The Process of Trusting”….man, that is a hard thing to say out loud. I mean say it slowly and really think about the words. It is a lot easier to say than to actually do. We are all humans and we don’t usually just trust. Not completely anyway. I don’t mean giving people the benefit of the doubt or anything like that….I mean trusting someone completely. With Everything. With all of you….every secret and mistake. All.of.it.

My family has been going through a season of life where we are really learning to trust God like never before. Y’all I have been in church my entire life. I love Jesus. I trust Him. I have never had to rely on Him and fully trust Him like I have had to this past year, and especially the past couple of months.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  ~Matthew 6:25-34

These verses have been rolling around in my brain– and in my heart– for several weeks on a pretty repetitive basis.

God is our good, good father and He does want to take care of us. He wants us to bring our thoughts and worries to Him. He wants to be our first response when life gets overwhelming.

This is the exact opposite of what society tells us. Society tells us that we are supposed to have our lives planned out. We are supposed to have a certain size house, wear certain brands of clothes, and drive certain types of cars. The standard of this world says that you have to make a certain amount of money to feel peace. We are supposed to have savings accounts and retirement funds. We are supposed to take care of it all ourselves. There is nothing wrong with having these things- in fact it is quite responsible to have these things. However, do you put your faith in those things?

It is easy to trust God when you possess a certain level of control yourself.

When the opposite happens, and you have no control. You seriously have to rely on God. Your faith can and will  be taken to a whole new level. You are almost forced to grow. Growing is your only option- it is either rely on God and grow or give up and die.

Trusting God is easy AND trusting God is hard.  I hope I am not the only one that feels this way. Sometimes, it is so easy! The Lord is faithful. He knows everything and holds us in the palm of His hand. Why wouldn’t we trust Him completely? It is hard as well though. It is hard to give up that sense of control.  Isn’t it totally hilarious that we think that we have any ounce of control anyway!!! It can be so hard to resist the urge to try and take matters into our own hands. We want to solve the problems ourselves and make it all work out. We can sometimes feel like we only need to take the really “big” problems to God for Him to handle. After all, we can take care of the rest…right?

What happens when following God’s direction for your life leads you to a place where you have to rely on God with absolutely every aspect of your life.

That is a hard place to find yourself as a person in general, but it has been especially hard for me as a wife and mom. To not have that sense of control has certainly been an adjustment.

The Lord keeps nudging my heart and my spirit asking ‘but what about today?’

The things I tend to find myself worrying about are all things that might happen. I find myself praying and asking the Lord how in the world I am supposed to handle these different situations. He is constantly asking me ‘what about today?’ Are my worries coming to pass today? How is today looking? The Lord is meeting my needs day by day and taking care of my family in amazing ways.

When I worry about the future… next year…or next month….or even tomorrow, I get overwhelmed with fear and wonder what kind of person I am. I drive myself crazy thinking about how people might judge me if they knew certain areas of my struggle.

Trusting is a process. We have to practice. Sometimes we mess up and get it wrong. Each day is a fresh start. Every time we give up our limited control and expectations and give them over to God, our trust in Him increases!

God is not going to direct you out of His plan. He always sees the next step before you even realize that it is time for the next move.

Trust Him. Over and Over again. Make the choice to rely on Him with every decision that you face!

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:5

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. Psalm 118:8