By: Jenifer Metzger
Placing our trust in the Lord can sometimes be a challenge. We are used to having things our way. We want what we want when we want it. So trusting on God's timing is hard. We are taught by the world that we are in control of our own happiness, our own destiny. This can make leaning on God difficult.
How can we trust in the Lord with all our heart and submit our ways to Him?
Spend time in prayer. When we are in continual prayer, we are strengthening our connection with God which helps us to strengthen our trust in Him. I remember the very first time we drove through the winding highway roads of the mountains with my husband behind the wheel. I was a little nervous! I had been on this drive many times with my dad driving so the roads themselves didn't bother me at all. I was nervous because I had never sat with my husband for this drive. Over the years I learned to trust him. Trust his driving, trust his knowledge of the roads, and trust his ability. I had to grow that trust by spending more time with him. When we spend more time in prayer, in conversation with God, our trust grows.
Spend time in the Word. When we read the Bible, we are literally reading the heart of God. We can see all that God has done throughout the years. We see the miracles, the lives touched. We see His plan, His path. We get to know Him. We know that He has a plan for us, we know that His plan is good. We are reading a letter that He wrote for us. As we read the Word, as we dive deep and study the Bible, our trust in Him grows.
I don't struggle so much with knowing that God is good, He loves me, He is with me. I struggle that His will might be something hard--like Joni Eareckson Tada being in a wheelchair for 50 years, or a couple of women I know whose husbands have early onset Alzheimer's. But even if God doesn't ask me to face those issues, I think He brings challenging things into each of our lives, to help us grow in our faith and dependence on Him. Someone once said that God doesn't give you dying grace until it's your time to die. So I have to trust that His grace will be sufficient for whatever His will is for each of us. And that trust is built up by prayer and His Word.
ReplyDeleteI wrote this week about our hilly TN roads without guardrails. When I try to watch the edge of the road, I end up drifting the direction I am looking. So I need to keep my eyes ahead. And in life, I need to keep my eyes on Jesus: https://barbaraleeharper.com/2021/09/05/focus-determines-direction/.