Four years ago, I felt God nudging me to step away from my freelance job and do something I’d wanted to do for years—go to seminary. Nothing about it made sense. I’d be giving up income and at the same time picking up tuition expenses. I kept asking…
“God, are you sure this the right thing to do?”
“How do I know it’s the right thing to do?”
“Could you just confirm that it is the right thing to do?”
After all, I thought, I need some kind of assurance that everything is going to work out.
And isn’t that how it goes?
We like the future that’s carefully laid out. If we can figure out how things will work out, THEN we’ll step out “in faith”. When in reality, the decision to move forward has more to do more with our planning abilities than trust.
- Do we trust God with our kids’ education or trust the ton of research we put in to choosing the right school?
- Do we trust him to keep our kids safe or trust our vetting system for all sleepovers, birthday parties, and play dates?
- Do we trust him to work in our husband or wife’s heart or trust in our ability to convince them that they should change?
- Do we trust him with the sale of our house or trust our savvy in finding the right realtor?
There’s nothing wrong with things like researching schools or having sleepover guidelines but when it comes down to it…
What or who is our trusting really in? What are we relying on?
As I struggled with my decision about seminary one day, I was sitting at the kitchen table and suddenly heard God say, “You want a guarantee, Carol; I want you to trust in me.”
I realized that’s what I was looking for—a guarantee. And that need for a guarantee was replacing faith. (After all, if you know something is going to work out you don’t really need to have faith that it will.) So I said yes to God. During the next three years of seminary, our family saw one financial provision after another.
God doesn’t always guarantee results; but he does promise his presence. His presence is guarantee enough.
So…
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
Proverbs 3:5-7
I know when I did, it freed me from having to figure things out and threw that responsibility on a God who I could trust. Trust in God!
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