"Do you trust Me, now?”…that question felt like a machine gun peppering my heart as I stood in disbelief looking at a massive tree that had just fallen onto our house during hurricane season… “Really, Lord? Yes, of course I trust you, but come on!!!! This is too much for one person…”
Three years prior, that specific question kept bubbling up through my quiet time with the Lord. My immediate reply then was, “Of course, Lord! I trust You! You are faithful and good! Your promises never fail!” Every time the question would continue to surface, however, I felt irritation grow as it kinda felt like the moment when Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me, Peter?” At the time things were fantastic, but little did I know that the tables would soon be turned in my home. As I look back, I can see that the Lord in His grace, gave me a glimpse of what was to come. I remember sitting in my friend’s living room sharing that I sensed that the Lord was going to take my family on a steep climb, but that I would remain intact if I remained with Him. As we were talking about it my phone rang. That telephone call launched three years of hard, hard, hard… During that season of sifting, our finances diminished bit by bit, we walked through difficult hurdles with one of our sons, the engine on our truck blew, our microwave died, the dishwasher died, then we were given a new one and it died a week later, the AC unit died, we developed a crack in the foundation of our home, our master tub leaked to the main floor, it felt like our marriage and family were hanging on by a thread and now a tree had just fallen onto our home.
As I started out the window at the big tree, tears fell freely down my cheeks…I had no words, just grief. The battle before me seemed beyond lost and yet in the midst of the swirling, “what ifs", the Lord gently asked again, “Do you trust, Me, Kimberly? Remember I AM your God who will never stop loving you nor will my promises to you ever fail. I will not take back a single Word…in My holiness I cannot lie.“(Jn 15:13, Is 55:11, Psalm 89:34). Suddenly his promises began to flood my thoughts and I finally whispered, “Yes, I trust you, Lord. I don’t know how You can fix this, when you will fix this or even why You allowed it to happen in the first place, but to whom else will I turn? You are the only One who can save us out of this mess…”
Oswald Chambers wrote that the greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted. (Isn't that sentence worth a second read?!) My dear friend says that this stretching step of speaking Truth in faith is the very action of belief. In fact, I think it is the antidote for unbelief! And it all starts with trust. In order to be whole and available in a relationship with others, my trust must first be found in The only One who is fully worthy of my trust – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
When we choose to trust Him even when all seems lost, The Father reveals His Divine Alchemy in the circumstances of our lives…He can glean joy out of sorrow, process peace out of adversity and orchestrate healing out of sickness. (Isaiah 61:3) Now that I am on the other side of that difficult season, I can testify to the peace that falls when we proclaim His praises and speak our trust in Him even when all seems lost. He is the lifter of our countenance…when we choose to face Him, to remind ourselves of the Truth of His Word, we are transformed into His likeness and our lives begin to shine with His radiant glory. It is at this place that we can enter our earthly relationships whole, filled with His love and peace and kindness and goodness and faithfulness, pouring out what He has poured in…This is the transforming power of trusting in The One who is worthy of our trust…it is the bedrock that enables us to engage in trustworthy relationships with others.
This is the foundational “why” behind the importance of trustworthy relationships. When we first trust in the Lord and take Him at His Word, we are made whole and are thus able to walk in integrity in our relationship with others. I am praying today that we would choose to trust Him regardless of what we are facing - that we would take Him at His Word and believe that He is who He says He is and will be faithful to do what He promises. May we ever be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how we think. This will empower us to discern God’s will and enable us to live a beautiful life that is satisfying and perfect in His eyes. (Rm 12:1-2)
Proclamation Songs:
Psalm 23 - this is WELL worth the listen!!!!
Song of Promise: