TRUST ISSUES?

To My Worried Sister,

Stop. Stop that worrying. I know it sounds kind of harsh but maybe it's the wakeup call you and I both didn't know we needed.

What exactly is worry? Worry= mental distress or agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated. See that? It's talking about stuff that hasn't even happened yet. Did you know we can worry things into existence? Yes! Once it goes from a thought to words, it's out there as a seed ready to be watered.

I don’t know about you, sis but I have heard Matthew 6:34 quoted ALL MY LIFE. It says, “Refuse to worry about tomorrow, but deal with each challenge that comes your way, one day at a time. Tomorrow will take care of itself.” It's like I know it but it is so much easier to say it than to live it out. Part of our human nature is spent trying to understand what comes next. We crave certainty so living with so much uncertainty can be stressful. We are programmed to “want to know” so how do we live this unpredictable life without worrying?

Here’s the tea. Before we ever worry, it is a thought. We have to FIRST work on checking our thoughts. Here me when I say this--negative thoughts will come but they do not have to stay.

“How can I pay my bills this month? I don’t know how this is going to work out. How do I know if God is going to come through this time? Or I can’t take this anymore.”

As hard as it is, our job is to shoot these type of thoughts down IN THE MOMENT. Here me again, THESE TYPE OF THOUGHTS WILL COME. Just because we know God, it does not eliminate the negative thinking and negativity. What our mind thinks and what our heart/spirit knows will always be two separate things. Knowing God means we have the tools to rise above our negative thoughts by speaking the word over them. The thing is, if we do not address the wrong thoughts in the moment, that is where worry can come in because we let the negativity marinate. Soon enough, the thoughts become meditation and the mediation becomes words. And well, words turn into action.

I think the basis of our worry is lack of trust. At our core, we just don’t trust people. And since we don’t trust anyone, it makes it difficult for us to trust God and to trust Jesus. People do us dirty and we think God will do the same. To avoid hurt, we put up walls so that we prevent people from hurting us. It's a defense mechanism. And the issue is, we put up those same walls when dealing with God. We spend a lifetime putting up walls that are difficult to tear down. Can we have a moment of transparency? I read something that struck a cord with me--“ Deep down we think that if we get too close to Jesus, He will make us do something that will hurt us, wound us, or cause others to laugh at our pain.” I find this to be true because it’s like we almost wait for “the other shoe to drop.” We stay on guard so that no one can catch us off guard. But sis, isn’t that exhausting? Jesus didn’t die for us to live a life behind walls. In fact, he came to tear down those walls.

I know the pain that some people have caused you is so real and palpable in your life to this day but don’t hold God to the same standard as people. Truth is, people will disappoint us to the end of time but just knowing we have a Savior that sees the best in us will allow us to see a glimpse of the best in others. People hurt people because they are flawed and human. But guess what? Me and you are no different. I have hurt people whether intentionally or unintentionally. But God will never do that to us. However, I can tell you this until I am “blue in the face.” Sis, you have to make this all real to YOU. You have to come to know God for yourself and not as a rumour.

I just feel led to reiterate that lack of trust is the root of worry. Trust is assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. This is something that I have to work on as well. I am working on not just knowing what God says but applying it. I am learning to just trust the simple truth that HE IS GOOD. That is the key foundation of our walk with God, we just have to know that no matter what, he is good. I believe his goodness is the greatest attribute that we can know about Him because if we don’t believe He is good, we can never ever trust a thing that God says. I just hear God saying, “You can trust me. I know it’s hard because so many people have let you down but I won’t. You can trust me with everything--your heart, your mind, and most importantly your life.” It’s impossible to follow God and not trust Him.

Once we trust God completely and totally, worry will be less and less frequent. So ask yourself, “Do I really trust God? Like really really? Trusting God means knowing Him, listening to Him, and believing Him. So sis, let’s start rebuilding our trust with God because I wholeheartedly believe that when our trust goes up, our worry will go down. Now this does not mean once you trust God, you will never ever battle with worry again but it DOES MEAN that your faith will outweigh your fear.