Photo by: Karla King

Inspiration & Hope

Choose to Trust
I can feel it rising up inside of me, the urge to fight back, the scrambling to find a breach in the system, the desire to manipulate the situation to work out the way I think it should. After all, I had a master plan, a plan in my mind that would go off without a hitch. Now I'm left staring at the bits and pieces of my plan scattered all around me, wondering what went wrong. Expectations unfulfilled, confidence shattered, dreams dashed on the rocks of reality. Should I be surprised? It isn't as if this is the first time my strategy has fallen through. And still as I stand holding what's left of my thwarted efforts and failed attempts in my hands yet again, my knee-jerk reaction is to push back. Find a different route. Make it happen on my own terms. Until I hear...the Voice.


"Meredith, do you trust Me?"


"Well yes, Lord. Of course I do," comes my retort. My mind is still reeling. Must...figure...this...out.


"Do you trust My love for you, that it is enough? Do you believe I am who I say I am? You can rest in my Sovereignty. Stop your striving, cease your manipulating. I have a plan, and unlike yours, it is absolutely perfect. Flawless. You can trust Me."


I am silenced in the presence of the Divine. My heart stops racing and I am still. Proverbs 3:5-6 floods my thoughts: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."


This is where I am right now. Maybe you are here too. With tear-filled eyes and a humbled heart, I am longing to fully trust the Lord with every detail of my life, no matter how seemingly insignificant, no matter how grandiose. My plans are feeble and near-sighted. I cannot see the big picture, the masterpiece that my Creator God is fashioning in the depths of His heart, but I can rest in knowing that it is good. I know that He is good. Dependable. Trustworthy.


So I willingly admit defeat. I am incapable of running my own life (thank God!) and why would I ever want to? Why would I ever think that I have a better idea than the One who dreamed up the Universe? Ridiculous. How could I ever assume that I know what's best for me, better than the God who offered His Son's life to save mine? Absurd. If there's one thing I can bank on it's that Jesus Christ will never fail. He won't forget about me. He won't get busy with something else and have to come back to me later. He is constant. His plans are perfect, His ways are exponentially higher. And if I know this in my heart and believe it to be true, I will be free from the pressure of trying to figure it all out on my own. Whew, what a relief.


Never once have you failed me, God. I choose to trust You.


-Meredith Andrews









Jeremy Camp -05- My Desire
 
Our love depends on the receiver of the love. Let a thousand people pass before us, and we will not feel the same about each. Our love will be regulated by their appearance, by their personalities. Even when we find a few people we like, our feelings will fluctuate. How they treat us will affect how we love them. The receiver regulates our love.
 
Not so with the love of God. We have no thermostatic impact on His love for us. The love of God is born from within Him, not from what He finds in us. His love is uncaused and spontaneous.
 
Does He love us because of our goodness? Because of our kindness? Because of our great faith? No, He loves us because of His goodness, kindness, and great faith.
- Max Lucado