trust – noun \ˈtrəst\
: belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc.
: an arrangement in which someone’s property or money is legally held or managed by someone else or by an organization (such as a bank) for usually a set period of time
: an organization that results from the creation of a trust
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Trust is an ongoing learning process for me.
Twenty-three years ago, I wore a white Cinderella-like dress and stood with my husband before family and friends to make my second biggest trust decision. Trusting God with my heart was my biggest trust decision.
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What does a child learn about trust from a parent who promises to do something but doesn’t…again and again?
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You board a plane, most likely flown by a pilot and maintained by mechanics you never met. Yet you trust they will safely take you to your destination.
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In my Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, the first three definitions for “trust” are:
- reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc. of a person or thing: confidence.
- confident expectation of something; hope.
- confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.
All three definitions show trust involves risk. We don’t have complete knowledge or control over how a person or thing will act in every possible situation. If we trust someone or something, we risk having our trust broken.
Depending on our life experiences, we find it easier to trust or mistrust people and/or institutions. But we can learn to trust God if we’re willing to risk.
Granted, we may minimize risk by diligent research. For example, I didn’t marry my husband until I knew more about his character and faith walk. Likewise, we can learn about God by spending time with Him, reading the Bible, and talking to people who love God.
God asks us to trust Him (Proverbs 3:5-6) with our lives and with the lives of our loved ones. Trusting God doesn’t mean we avoid suffering and/or loss. Remember Jesus on the cross. But God rewarded Jesus’s trust; Jesus rose and conquered death and sin for us. God kept His promise.
When I read testimonies of people who trusted God despite great suffering, I notice that they trusted and experienced God’s love and presence in their suffering. Faith, not feelings, ruled their hearts, despite moments of doubt. They chose to trust God’s love as revealed in Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection (Romans 8: 31-39). They relied on God’s prior acts of love to trust Him for future acts of love.
They chose to trust God’s promise to cause all things to work together for good (Rom. 8:28) despite contrary appearances. They recalled earlier examples of God’s faithfulness. They trusted God with their anger, their pain, and their questions as they suffered. They clung to God’s promises in the Bible.
They revealed their trust in God by seeking Him, reading the Bible and/or praying. They trusted when they were too broken to continue. God’s grace held them. They trusted God enough to ask for help.
Trust requires an ongoing reliance on God and His promises through all of life’s seasons to avoid complacency or complaint.
Soul Stops Moment:
- What have you learned about trust?
- What have you learned from trusting God?
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WORD COUNT: 491
Dolly is honored to be guest posting for her friend Charity. She had the pleasure of meeting Charity at Laity Lodge last year after taking an online writing class taught by Charity and Ann Kroeker. Dolly has discovered trusting God is an adventure. She’s a recovering perfectionist who is learning to bloom where God has planted her. She blogs regularly at her blog, Soul Stops, and occasionally at Tweetspeak Poetry and Jumping Tandem. You can connect with her at her blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can also visit and like her blog’s FB page.
In Your Own Words
An important part of bringing words to life is encouraging other writers with their words. In this regular feature, I invite other writers to write about one word that captures where they are in life at that moment, much like my own #wordoftheweek writing discipline. What is your one word?
Photo above by Ryan G. Smith, via Flickr, used with permission under the Creative Commons License
Hi Dolly! I agree that paying attention to faith over emotion is really the key in hard times. So easy to say, so hard to do! I find that my emotions are very loud, and my faith is very quiet. I think I have to work on switching that around!
Risk is a hard bridge to cross to trust. Prayer is my only way to get ready for that…
Blessings,
Ceil
Ceil – I have the same trouble with the volume of my emotions and faith. I love that description! Thanks for stopping by.
Your thoughts on trust are rich as well as practical, Dolly!
I feel the same way about Dolly’s post, Elizabeth. Thanks for stopping by.
Charity and Dolly,
Charity, nice to meet you. I’m hopping over here from Dolly’s page. Thanks for this guestpost.
Dolly, it’s true. The risk involved in trust is real, and I appreciated the mitigating features of trusting God when you said… “we can learn about God by spending time with Him, reading the Bible, and talking to people who love God.” Yes, I have found that too. Seeing him at work in the past builds my trust for the future.
Have a great week, Charity and Dolly,
Jennifer Dougan
http://www.jenniferdougan.com
Jennifer – It’s a pleasure to have you — and Dolly – here at my website. I love your comment about the past connecting to the future when it comes to faith and trust. I find the same to be true in my life.
Trust, true trust, is from our Father. The only way, in my opinion, to trust in our spirit, knowing that we might get crushed, is to understand that it is our Father that holds all the keys to this life. We will be hurt by others, they are flesh and blood like us, but our Father never fails us; we trust in His sovereignty, not ours. Short and powerful, Dolly. Got me thinking, sister.
Floyd,
Yes…true trust is a grace gift from God…and you make an important point about trusting in God’s Sovereignty…it is like a scaffold underneath our trust in God…Thank you!
Floyd – You make several good points about truth. God never fails us; people will always fail us because they are human. We can weather the failures of others so much better when we lean hard on Jesus. Thanks for stopping by.
Sherrey,
Your words mean a lot to me because I know you have traveled a long & difficult journey with God to be able to trust again…your story is a grace gift to us…Thank you 🙂
Dolly, from my perspective you have hit the proverbial nail on the head with this post on trust. I learned trust the hard way following an abusive childhood and marrying an abusive husband the first time. God had a hard task ahead of him teaching me to trust again, but it was the best experience of my life, standing alongside God and walking with him to that point where I could trust and know that I had him to lean on. Thanks so much for your never-ceasing gift of sharing your thoughts and faith.
Sherrey – Thanks for sharing a bit of your story here in the comments section. True trust is often hard-earned, much like respect. I am so thankful for the ways that God has worked in your life.