“At dawn let me hear of your kindness, for in you I trust. Show me the path I should walk, for you I entrust my life.” -Psalm 143:8
Trust.
How do we trust in God instead of the world or ourselves? It can be easy to trust in things visible to our naked eye. We see, so we believe. It is another thing to fully trust in God and his plan — especially when it is something we cannot see. God asks us to have complete trust in him and to believe in him.
Each day we take risks and trust handfuls of people to get us through our day. We trust the people who operate the transportation we ride in, other drivers on the road, people who prepare our food, doctors, teachers, childcare providers, our spouses and friends. There are countless individuals to consider.
Believing in God is one thing, but trusting him with our lives well, that is another. Most of us have a plan in our minds. A plan of how we want our lives to go, a hope for certain things to happen and dreams we yearn for to come true. We may desire things in our minds that we think will make us feel happy or attempt to create a life in which makes us feel more complete and worthy. It’s easier to trust with our minds than to trust with our hearts.
In our minds we want things to be a certain way — to turn out in a specific manner and to not get complicated. Most people are impatient and like things to be easy. It is much simpler for us to think of something quickly and execute it, than to pause and listen to what God may be trying to tell us.
Listening and trusting God requires us to pause in those moments when our mind craves to take over. In this moment we feel what our hearts are saying instead of quickly rushing to feed the immediate requests of our minds.
Trusting in God is a lifelong challenge. It is not something we just learn how to do and forever master. Each new struggle or predicament upon us in our lives demands recommitment on our part. Recommitment that acknowledges God’s plan, that he knows what he is doing and that we have full trust in him to take care of us.
The more frequently we turn to God and trust in him, the more often we will be able to “see” his loving hands working in our lives. What a wonderful way for us as humans to “see” him. God is all knowing and therefore, trusting in him should make us feel comforted. The more we “see” God’s works in our lives, the easier it will become to trust in him fully.
Melanie Sextro is a military wife and mother to two sweet boys. She is a member of St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City.
