Trusting God In The Difficult Times

Life is not predictable. There are ups and downs along the way. Many of us want to trust God. When times are good it is easy. But when times are difficult it’s harder to trust God. But, God’s unchanging character can give us a firm foundation when things are unsteady and uncertain.

Life can be going along smoothly for a season. Our jobs are going great, our health is good. Then all suddenly it throws us a curve ball. Someone gets sick or you lose your job. The things that felt secure and all the sudden became shaky and uncertain.

Jelly Roll has a song about how he only talks to God when he needs a favor. This is how most people are. God wants us to talk to Him all the time. When we cannot see a resolution God wants to help us navigate them.

To trust God means to believe in the reliability, truth, ability, and strength of Him. Titus 1:2 tells us “in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” Trusting Him means believing what He says about Himself, about the world and about you is true.

Trusting God is more than a feeling; it’s a choice to have faith in what He says even when our feelings or circumstances would have us believe something different. Our feelings and circumstances matter and are very much paying attention to. God cares about them both. But those things alone are not reliable enough to base our lives on. They can change at any moment, even in an instant. God, on the other hand, does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and is worthy of our trust.

Trusting God is not about ignoring your feelings or reality. It is not pretending everything is okay when it isn’t. Trusting God is living a life of belief in the obedience of God even when it’s difficult.

What does it mean to trust God in our everyday life?

To trust anyone you have to feel comfortable being honest with them about everything. But God is much more reliable than your most trustworthy friend. When things are difficult He doesn’t want you to keep those feelings to yourself.

He tells us in 1 Peter 5;7 to “cast all your worries on Him because He cares for you.” He also says in Psalm 56:8, that He keeps track of all our sorrows and collects all our tears in a bottle. And has recorded each one in His book,

Because God loves us, we can show our trust in Him by talking about all our feelings and circumstances with Him. Don’t let your emotions rule your life, bring them to God so He can help you address them. He isn’t disappointed of frustrated by your struggles, doubts, or pain.

When you trust, you go to God and His Word (The Bible) when life is hard. You also act on obedience (doing what God says) and trust that He will ultimately take care of the rest. In trust, you don’t look for security in other things. You look to God to hold you securely in difficult circumstances. You might not do this perfectly, but God is kind and patient with you while you learn to trust Him.

Jesus Himself felt overwhelmed by what was before Him, and He went straight to His Father.

A few ways we learn to trust God are:

  • Seek His Truth In Scripture

God knows we need somewhere to go when we feel unsure. That place is His Word. It is unchanging and completely trustworthy.

  • Confess Your Unbelief

Be honest. Allow God to remind you who He is and what He promises, and then be honest with Him.

  • Share Your Concerns With Other Believers

Know that you are not facing these difficult times alone. God is walking with you every step of the way. He also gives us other believers to walk with.

  • Remember God And Spend Time With Him

God is bigger than your circumstances. Difficult times may feel like they will last forever, but they are temporary. God is present in our bad times as well as the good. He is always faithful.

  • Look For Things To Be Grateful For

Difficult circumstances feel all-consuming at times. It is really hard to see past them to other things that are going on. God’s grace is in all things. In waking you up. In a sunny day. In a call from a friend. He is in all of it. These things can get overshadowed by other more complicated things going on.

  • Walk In The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit lives in anyone who puts their trust in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is your constant helper, pointing you to Jesus. In John 14:26 Jesus told of an advocate, the Holy Spirit whom He would send in His Name. To teach you all things and remind you of everything He had said.

  • Wait On The Lord

The Holy Spirit will lead you to what you should do. Sometimes what you need to do is wait. And faithfully continue to seek God, but wait on His timing.

Sometimes our trust falters. But God is trustworthy even when you don’t see your prayers being answered or problems solved right away. Life is unpredictable and downright difficult at times, and that difficulty may persist for longer than you had hoped. It may even bring you to the end of your strength. So what do you do then?

Wait, trust, and remember that God loves you. You can trust Him to sustain you, to provide for you even when you are in the middle of hardship. Jesus guaranteed His followers that they would face hard times. John 16:33 says “I have told you these things that in Me you may have peace. In the World you have trouble, but cheer up I have overcome the world.” He promised that He would always be with you.

God is completely trustworthy, but He doesn’t ask you to trust Him blindly. He wants you to learn to trust Him as you get to know Him. You can get to know God through personal time with Him and through His Word.

In times of trouble remember His promises. Remember who He is and always has been. Even in doubt, and uncertainty, if you keep going to Him, He will continually show Himself to be trustworthy.

People I Admire and Look For Advice

List the people you admire and look to for advice…

First and foremost I look to God and let Him guide me. I know I can trust Him always. And He’s never wrong.

The second person would be my husband. He is my go-to when I need worldly advice.

The third would be my pastor. He is a great voice when I need advice from I godly perspective..

The fourth would be my accountability friend. I know I can bounce ideas and views off her and get an honest view.

Reacting vs Responding

When u expected events occur, most people go down one of two roads: they either react or respond.

Responding, is a spin off from the word responsibility, it is considerate and deliberate. Reacting on the other hand, literally means to meet one action with another. It is immediate and rash.

Responses tend to goes like this: when something happens, you pause, process, and plan. Then you proceed.

Reactions go: Something happens, and you panic. Then you proceed.

Responding is slow and reaction is quick. Responding creates more space between the event and what you do or don’t do with it. In that space, you give your immediate emotions some room to breathe, and better understand what is happening, make a plan using the most evolved part of your brain, and then move forward accordingly.

Responding is harder than reacting. It takes more time and effort, and it often requires letting a strong itch -the yearning to immediately do something, anything, about whatever just happened be there without scratching it. But, like most things responding requires effort. You rarely regret deliberately responding to a challenging situation. But you often regret automatically reaching to one.

It’s always better to respond than to react because reacting can get us into trouble. Whether it is unexpected traffic, a meeting that didn’t go as planned, a pet having diarrhea when you’re rushing out the door, or something more significant there is something called the 4 P’s that can get you out of reacting and into responding.

After years of my life reacting instead of responding I learned about this practice and it has made my life easier and a whole lot more peaceful.

1. Pause: Take a deep breath or two and gather your thoughts.

2. Process: Label the emotions you are feeling. Tell yourself, this is what is happening right now, I’m doing the best I can

3. Plan: Now that you have collected yourself, make a plan for what you want to do going forward. Figure out what resources and skills you can bring to the situation at hand.

4. Proceed: Only then take action and proceed.

What happens when you practice responding instead of reacting you begin you will not only make better decisions but you also start to experience a part of yourself that is not so susceptible to change, at least not in the way you usually experience it. It’s the part of you that pauses, processes, plans, and proceeds.

When you react to a situation you become a part of it. Going from one reaction to the next becomes an emotional roller coaster. When you respond to a situation, however, you put a few degrees of freedom between a deeper and more stable sense of yourself and the ever-changing current in your life.

What Gives Me Direction In Life

What gives you direction in life?

My deep-seeded values and morals give me direction. It’s my internal driver to my behavior.

I also rely on God as my all-knowing guide. His guidance brings me peace because He has a purpose for me life. The Holy Spirit instructs and teaches me in the way I should go. When I listen to Him I will never lose my direction.

Guard Your Mouth And Your Tongue

“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles“ – Proverbs 21:23

The easiest way for a person to sin is with the tongue. The restraining laws in our society used to prevent us from doing anything we want, it seems that people can say anything they want.

“Their throat is an open tomb, With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of vipers is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” -Romans 3:13-14

Even those who are redeemed by Jesus Christ struggle to govern their tongue. How many wars have started because of a prideful arrogant, rebellious tongue? How many couples have divorced because of a lying tongue? How many friends have been separated because of a gossiping tongue?

Make no mistake, the real problem is the tongue with the disposition of the heart.

“For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sin, murder, thefts, covering a, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” -Mark 7:21-25

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 16:23, “The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.”

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:36, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgement.

Only by guarding our tongue will we keep our soul from unnecessary troubles.

Living In Victory

We are all looking for ways to have victory in our lives. The Bible says in 1 John 5:4 that “whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -our faith.”

The day will come when every one of us will go through one battle after another. With all the chaos going on in the world, I have to admit someday it’s hard to see a victory happening anywhere in the world. We can find ourselves being beaten up on a daily basis by this evil world. The problems we see are the effects of sinful people.

Not only do we feel beaten up, but we feel defeated. The Bible had a few things to say about being defeated. The Bible says everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. But what is the victory that we will overcome?

1 John 5 shows us three ways you can have victory.

1. Salvation

“Whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” – 1 John 5:12.

Whoever has God’s Son has life, which means when you accept Jesus, death has been conquered. Death is no longer a threat. This sinful world can send everything it can at you, but death has already been conquered.

It was conquered when Jesus did on the cross, in your place. Jesus paid for your sin if you accept it. From the moment a person accepts Jesus they are on an eternal timetable. It’s an amazing feeling when you realize absolutely know you’re going to spend eternity with your Savior.

There is one thing this world hates, and that is a true believer on fire for God. When sin comes in contact with a godly person, it has two choices: to run or attack. But when you accept Jesus into your life, you are already victorious through salvation.

Many have been persecuted in the past for their faith in Jesus and they continue to die to this day in many countries, You may ask yourself Why are these people ready to die for their faith? It’s because they have victory over death. Through their salvation, they know that their eternity is paid for and they no longer need to worry. When they made Jesus Christ they decided to leave their life and become a believer in Him.

Jesus makes a difference in all our lives. When you’re a true believer you come to know you have conquered death. The fear and encouragement leaves.

I’m not telling you that there are no bad days. But Jesus is always at our side. And ready to give us peace. Once there is victory over death, there is nothing to fear,

My favorite Quote That I Live My Life By

Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart” – Proverbs 3:3.

I try to let love and faithfulness define my life. No matter what situations come into my life.

Favorite Holiday

What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?

Most holidays are so commercialized in America. I find it hard to not be stressed out during any holiday. I like Christmas but only for celebrating Jesus’s birthday. It’s not about expensive gifts and the stress of getting everything done just right.

Christmas to me is having family around enjoying their company. And celebrating the greatest gift of all time Jesus coming to pay for our sins and give us life.

Don’t Compromise Your Integrity

It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. Sometimes compromise is good, it is good in marriage and many times in business. But when it comes to our spiritual relationship with God compromise isn’t good.

It can become too easy to compromise our faith by giving into the world temptations. Scripture tells us that when we see people who reduce God to something they can use or control we need to get away from them as fast as possible.

If you have ever felt close to God and are now feeling separated from Him, as many have, it’s because you moved God didn’t. Satan’s policy is to make us believe that not only does He not exist, but that there is no evil in our hearts that would cause God to move away. I have learned from experience that when you flirt with the devil and sin all you do is allow him to get his foot in the door. When his foot is in the door this allows him and his demons to influence our thinking and discernment process, as well as taking up residence somewhere in our hearts. This is why we can’t compromise in our spiritual life,

This doesn’t mean that we can’t seek to live in harmony with people who have different opinions. It just means we have to be aware of unrighteous living.

God wants our devotion. God is selfish and it is not the same like of selfishness that leads to our sinful acts. God’s selfishness is a kind of selfishness that is out of love for us. We may have a difficult time wrapping out heads around this concept, but God way is not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We cannot have God’s blessings and flirt with the devil. Sadly we are seeing this and it’s repercussions in the world today.

Why Are We Suppose To Pray?

God commands people, multiple times in His Word to pray. But why do we need to pray?

If God is in control and directs our lives, then what’s the point of praying? The answer lies in understanding what prayer is.

If you see prayer as merely a means of taking some level of control of your life and the world as a means of leverage then you will be inevitably troubled by unanswered prayers.

For years I prayed and thought God wasn’t hearing me, I felt as if He was ignoring me. If He wanted me to have the desires of my heart, (Psalm 37:4) what was wrong with me that He wouldn’t answer my prayers? It some point I stopped praying because I felt He didn’t care.

After I was saved I learned to see that prayer primarily as an ongoing conversation with God, and realized there was no such sing as an unanswered prayer.

If prayer us a conversation between you and God, His promise to always listen was the answer that my heart needed.

God might not choose to do what we ask Him to do it. And there might be seasons when we find it hard to hear what He’s saying all a lot of reasons. It’s hard when someone says no, or even no yet, to what seems like a good valid request.

Understanding that if we take delight in God, over and above anything else in our lives, then He will shape our hearts so we will want the things He already wants to give us. His desires will become our desires.

If God is in control and already directs our lives, then what’s the use of praying? Psalm 115:3 even tells us, ‘But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. To understand why we need to pray if God already knows what will happen we need to think about “the sovereignty of God.” God is powerful and authoritative to the extent of being able to override all other powers and authorities.

It is true God already knows everything that will happen for the rest of eternity. He knows the big events and the small moments of each of our lives and nothing is beyond His control. So it’s senseless to think of prayer as a way to change God’s mind or His direction in a situation.

Prayer is a process by which we learn to trust God. He listens to us patiently. He takes our requests seriously. Then He considers everything in the context of the bigger picture only He can see,

It’s in prayer that we use to come into agreement with God’s will. For example, I may pray that I wish to go somewhere but God knows if there are dangers that involve me going there. And He is trying to protect me.

Psalm 139:1-4 says

“Lord, you have searched mem and you know me. You know my sitting down and rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold. Lord, you know it altogether.”

if God knows what you are thinking, then why is He so concerned about you talking to Him? Because prayer is one of the main ways you connect with Him. When you pray God will give you peace by explaining or resolving every situation you bring to Him. When we pray it eases our fears.

Through prayer, we develop a trusting relationship with God. Over time, we learn how to recognize His voice when He speaks. The Bible clearly shows Him choosing to act in response to the prayers of His people,

Have I Ever Been Camping?

Have you ever been camping?

I have been camping. I absolutely love camping in the mountains, the air has a feeling of peace about it. The brisk air is exhilarating. Hiking and spending quality time with family is the best. No phones or television to disrupt the adventure. Cooking over an open fire makes the food taste better. And the strong coffee from a percolator is amazing.

The simple act of being in a location where I get to appreciate the trees, lakes, sunlight, birds, and other natural details can help my mind relax and put puts me in a calm peaceful mood.

When I Feel Most Productive

When do you feel most productive?

I am most my best writing and praying in the early hours of the morning. Usually between 2 and 4. This time allows me a quiet, distraction free period as I can focus on God and myself and be more productive.