Trust part 3
The hardest thing, in my opinion, about trust is that once its broken it can never completely be put back together. That's why I stress so hard to my son that, "If you always tell me the truth, I'll always believe you." Once that doubt sets in its hard to root it out. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice... shame on ME. That's why we think we guard our hearts by closing them down. We think not being able to get hurt (again) is what makes us strong. But true strength comes in doing things whether we might get hurt or not. True strength comes from being vulnerable. From putting yourself out there. Giving everything you have and everything you are whether its recieved or not. Trusting that the reward of something well done is in the doing. Its not the destination, its the journey. Especially when you consider that the gift of God that we've been given is eternal life. There IS no end. Its a never-ending life-long journey into the heart of the matter. Which is the heart. God's heart beating with love in our chests. So in reality we don't guard our hearts by closing them down. We guard our hearts by keeping them open. Open to love. Trusting love. Trusting God. And here's the thing: We might think differently in the heat of the moment, but God is completely trustworthy. He has never, and will never, let us down. Let me say it another way: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). And I know we always seem to focus on the never leaving nor forsaking part (its an important part, certainly), but I want to point out the be content with what you have part. Because that's why it seems like God lets us down sometimes. We want things to be a certain way, and when that doesn't manifest we shake our fists at the heavens and blame God. We think God is supposed to be our own personal genie and grant us wishes on our command. Let's get real for a minute. God does what HE wants to do. And luckily for us, what He wants to do is love the hell out of us. But that doesn't always (or barely ever, really) look the way we selfishly want it to. We want things to go the way we want them to go. And when they don't we usually take it pretty personally. When really its just life. Life happens. Whether we want it to or not. But that doesn't mean God hates us. It doesn't mean God let us down. Love never fails, right? So if we can trust ANYTHING... we ought to be able to trust love. The key is in seeing things through the doves' eyes of the Holy Spirit. Seeing things the way they really are. Seeing that all things work together for our good. Even when it doesn't seem like it possibly could be. I quoted this verse the other day, but it fits here and its still in my Spirit, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:20). In other words, let God be the truth and all men liars. Don't worry about what other people say or do. Let people say what they're gonna say. Let them do what they're gonna do. Turn the other cheek. Love them anyway. You don't have to trust someone that has burned you, but you can trust the fire that is God (that is love) to totally consume you!