Food for Thought: Game of Trust

Most of us at this point in the generational cycle have some kind of trust issue. Most of us have been damaged by someone at some point that makes trusting anyone with our inner most thoughts and selves extremely difficult. Most of us think of the word "trust" like we do the word "gold": sure it would be nice to have, but we can't really afford it. We've grown up "givng it one more try" as all the experts say. Yet, when we look back all we really did was nothing more than a little more grown up version of spin the bottle. And that was almost always an epic fail.
What we as mortals have failed to realize is this not some giant trust exercise designed by God. This is not how God designed for us to learn trust. This is pretty much how we have learned to FAIL at trust. Women especially are vulnerable to this loss of trust early on. Whether it stems from a loss of trust in your childhood or a string of bad relationships early on or life was just especially cruel. Women and their gift of empathy will feel the loss of trust more than men. We feel safe when we can trust. We feel loved when we can trust. We feel hopeful when we can trust. If trust is missing, so is all of the other things necessary for us to flourish. For this reason, WE MUST PUT OUR FULL AND COMPLETE TRUST IN GOD ALONE. 

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

  Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

Just a few, but a few of my favorites. He is the same no matter the circumstances and He is faithful no matter the circumstances. We trust Him because He has already proven Himself and we trust Him because we KNOW He will never cease to be the faithful God we've known Him to be. That is a rock solid, carved in the palm of His hand promise.  Trust goes along with love and grace and faith, if we're missing it then we're missing something vitally important and we simply can't keep going without it. I spent too many years thinking it would just "come with time" only to realize that's not how these things work! You bring it to God and you work it out with God. He knows your heart better than you and He knows why you are struggling. Stop doing this alone. Get real. Get honest. Get honest real quick!
I know I have already written about my encounters with God and how He changed our relationship. I know I have told you pieces of my story and how He rescued me from the pits of darkness. I did not share these intimate details for stories sake.  I shared them because I needed you to know that there is a reason that my heart's trust is in God alone; that no matter what any pastor says from a pulpit, no matter what theological master says to me, no matter what I read in any other book, God's Word has the ultimate say in my life. I have major trust issues. Some of the worst if we're talking issues! But with God, He's allowed into my private spaces. In fact, I beg Him into my private spaces. I cannot survive alone and I have known that since that night in that hospital room. Satan would try to use my trust issues to undermine every relationship I have and every thing I ever get involved in if not for my ultimate relationship with God. Without a top down perspective, I might very well destroy good ( sometimes complicated) relationships because I alone have trust issues. That's how satan works, but God is the God of redemption and healing. We have to remember that OUR issues are not GOD'S issues. If we want to get unstuck from where we are, if we want to move forward productively, we have to stop standing in God's way when He wants to show us a better way. It is scary to trust after you've been hurt. It is hard to let others in when you've known deep pain. But it is a deeply beautiful thing to know the fellowship God designed for the Body (even when it's messy). Are you done with the "spin the bottle of trust" game? Look around at your muck today and ask yourself if it's worth staying where you are or are you ready to try things HIS way this time.  It won't be fast and it won't be easy, but from the looks of it, you're not going anywhere else :)