Trusting Him.

Trusting in the Lord has never been an easy task for me. I am a worrier. I catch myself worrying about the most ridiculous things, too. Things that are so far out of my control. Sometimes I think I even worry BECAUSE things are out of my control. As I've grown older, I've learned that this trait runs in the family. My mother almost immediately thinks the worst when I don't return her phone calls, and my grandmother is in a worry-category all her own.

At first I thought that I might not be the best person to write about trusting, as the Father and I are still working on this. But I think a lot of people struggle with it, and it will hopefully be helpful to share what I use to get me past worrying and onto trusting.

One of my most favorite verses is Matthew 6:25-27 which says,

25 “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? 26 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? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

Every time I read this I come back to the realization that worrying does nothing for me. Now, this doesn't mean that I should be indifferent to life. There is a fine line between caring and worrying. I think some people take this passage to mean that we shouldn't even think about the future, things that will matter to us in time. But that is not the message I gain from this. I will need food, water, clothes, etc. They are important things, and I should do my part to attain them. But the Lord is the ULTIMATE provider. The things we need come from Him and no one else. He is in control. He is THE ONE. 

I've found myself lost in thought, surrounded with worries, in times when nothing seems to be working, nothing is going in the way I would like. And then I refer to another of my favorite verses. 

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9

Our Heavenly Father is so much higher than all of us. He knows so much more. When things don't go in the way I had hoped, sometimes I am angry. I ask God "why did you do this?" or "why didn't you come through for me?". And it's ok to be angry or frustrated, but this verse says that God is always thinking of the bigger picture. He has something else in mind, something BETTER. Which brings me to another of my favorite verses. 

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28

How comforting is that? Our Heavenly Father will work EVERYTHING for our good! We have the God of the Universe on our side, always looking to help us and bring us joy. And once I realize this, once I have received this "big hug" from the Father, I know I don't have to worry. I never have to worry. God's got it. 

In Christ,
Makena Cummings