Do I trust God? Do you?

Do I trust God? I mean, really trust God? If I get down to the heart of it, the answer is not always and definitely not like I ought to. Sure I've trusted Him as my Savior. I've trusted in His redeeming blood. I've trusted that He calls me His child. But what about day to day life?

Do I trust God when life is spinning out of control?

Do I trust God when I am faced with a big decision and I don't know what to do?

Do I trust God when I feel alone and wonder why life has to be so hard?

Do I trust God in the moments when all I really want is a hug and yet there seems to be no one around to hug?

Or do I only trust God when life is good? When life is going how I like it, when I am happy and all seems right with the world?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." I love the way the Message puts it: "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track." 

I am called to trust even when I don't understand.

Sometimes it just takes a change in perspective to trust God. It's easy to get caught up in my own little world, my problems, my emotions....hear that? It's all about me. But when I change my perspective, suddenly, my heart & attitude can begin to change. In "Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions," Lysa Terkeurst writes,

"...perspective is key to not coming unglued. For me, perspective doesn't just help me to see the current circumstance I'm facing from a new vantage point - it also helps me process future things I face in a calmer, more grounded way. It helps me develop a new way of thinking."

That "new way of thinking" is what Paul was referring to in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." And again in Romans 12:2a, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Changing my thoughts goes a long way toward changing my life. Sure, the circumstances might be the same, but how I view life, how I view others, how I view God will be different and that will make a difference in my life. If trusting God is solely dependent on how I feel or how my life is playing out, then I will always lack trust in God. Let's face it, my emotions are going to be up and down and my life will contain troubles (John 16:33).

Part of settling the trust issue in my life comes down to answering an important question that Lysa presents in her book - "Whose side am I on?" Let me close with this quote from Unglued:

"Will our responses reflect that we are on God's side or not? If we determine that, no matter what, we're on God's side, it settles the trust issue in our hearts. And if we ground ourselves in the reality that we trust God, we can face circumstances that are out of our control without acting out of control. We can't always fix our circumstances, but we can fix our minds on God. We can do that."

Praise God, we can do that!!