“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Many things in life are “easier said then done!” In my own experience, completely trusting God with my life and surrendering to His will fall under that umbrella.
I love the Scripture verse above. I think it’s spot on and important to live a life of faith. However, there’s just one little word that makes me cringe, “all.” It sure packs a big punch for being such a small word! No matter how much it makes me wrinkle my brow, I need to read it over and over again. It needs to be a note on my forehead written backwards to see clearly in the mirror. There need to be neon signs posted all over my house…particularly right by the crucifixes.
Sometimes I gloss over that little word all and convince myself that I trust in God and that I let Him lead me. I live happily in my own little delusion that the path or paths I’ve chosen and followed are always what God desires for me. I think this is where the devil starts to play his games with me. He tries to convince me that I can go through life only slightly leaning on God and the rest I can do myself.
WHOA! Put the brakes on, Britta. God says to trust Him with all my heart not just the part I feel like sharing at that moment. He doesn’t want just part of me, He wants all of me. He says that if I can trust Him I will find myself on “straight” paths. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so surely that idea resonates with my path to Heaven.
I make my own life difficult. I plan out my days, write events on my calendar, pray for this and that, yet I never actually trust God to provide…to answer my requests, to make my paths straight. This tendency to not let go of control is evident in my life way back to the first time I ever had to do a group project in school. You know, those assignments you get where 4-6 students get together and plan the project and about 2 people actually do the work. I always hated those projects because I didn’t want a poor grade so I took it upon myself to do the majority of the work.
Well, God isn’t like the lazy classmate who doesn’t want to do their share of the work…HE’S GOD!!!
“Commit your way to Lord; trust in Him and he will act.” Psalm 37:5
It’s simple. It’s written in His Word over and over again. Trust in God and He will provide for all of heart’s desires. Now, I think where I get hung up again, is that He doesn’t always “act” in accordance with what I request. The thing I have to remind myself of is that God never settles for lesser things for those He loves. If my prayers aren’t answered exactly, if what I dream doesn’t come to be, that’s what’s best for me and only God knows that because only God knows my path to Heaven.
So in addition to the element of trust that is surrender there is the element of belief in what God provides being the best for me. I have a feeling that trusting in God will never come easy, but the lives of the saints and holy men and women of Scripture are definitely an inspiration to work harder at letting go. Noah, Moses, David, Daniel, John the Baptist, the Apostles, the list goes on and on. Saints like Isaac Jogues, Paul Miki, Joan of Arc, Maximillian Kolbe, Gianna Molla, and so many others who suffered in some profound way for the sake of the Gospel because they trusted that God had something magnificent in store for them are an amazing example to me. When you believe in God and truly love Him with all your heart, and desire to do His will, then trust comes much more naturally.
I have to laugh at myself, because I often fail to look back on my life and realize where I’ve come from and how many times over the Lord has blessed me. He’s never once forsaken me. He’s never once left me alone or in torment. He’s never once not provided for my every need. To grow in the virtue of trust I need to run into the merciful arms of our Divine Savior and shout to the mountaintops, “Jesus I trust in You.” Crazy? No. Necessary. Yes. Will I do it? In my own way and in my own time through constant prayer and by the grace of our Lord.
“Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His Love and the future to His Providence. ” -St. Augustine
