WILL YOU TRUST ME??
Will you trust me??? Four words that on their own are so
simple, and yet when put together so complex.
TRUST… by definition is the firm
belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something
(google dictionary).
WILL YOU TRUST ME??
God started asking me this question
in November of last year. I have recently felt a desire and calling on my life
to enter into a place of ministry. And I could feel God asking me, “Ashley,
will you trust me”. My initial response was “sure God…whatever you want”. My
answer was quick and easy, because it didn’t require much sacrifice. The next
request was a little harder. “Ashley, will you trust me?”…
“Sure God, I already said yes”…
“Then give up your position at
work…let me meet your needs, rely on me”…. Suddenly trusting God was getting a
little bit harder, was requiring more. Suddenly I realized that trusting God was a
choice…a choice that would require something from me. Suddenly I realized God
wasn’t looking for a quick response, or an appeasement, but a decision, a
declaration, and an action.
As I am growing up in my life, I
have learned that trust is more than a feeling. Many times we decide whether we
will trust someone or not based on past experiences, based on what we know
about someone’s character. We believe that someone must earn our trust. That they
must first be tested and found true. I trust my husband because we have weathered
many obstacles together. I have found his heart to be true and full of love,
and ultimately because he has proven himself faithful over and over again.
So too is it with our Father God. Our
ability to trust God often seems based on past experiences. However, God is
looking for so much more than a feeling of trust. God is showing me
that the trust that he desires is actually an action….an action that comes in
the form of
(To cease resisting and to submit to
an authority)
In my life, I have weathered some storms….I know that they
are not all behind me, that there will be more to come. And God has been asking
me “Ashley, do you trust me enough to actually let go…surrender your
circumstances and your life to me”. See friends we can say we trust God, but
until we can loosen the hold on our lives and live our life in total surrender
and abandonment to God’s will and plan, do we truly trust him??
I actually believe that there are
two forms of surrender… I believe that there is a forced surrender and a chosen
surrender.
FORCED SURRENDER: Let me immediately
clear up the thought that God forces us to surrender to his will and plans…NO!!!! God is not an abuser, dictator or enforcer. He is not
vengeful, and he does not MAKE us do anything. However, life
has a way of causing us to surrender. We have no control over situations and
circumstances that enter into our life. Death and illness are not gentlemen,
they come into our lives whether we want them to or not, and they have a way of
forcing us to surrender to our circumstance. People in our lives make decisions
that impact us, and often we have no say in the decisions made, but are forced
to live with the resulting consequences and repercussions.
Instead, God is asking us to enter
into a chosen surrender. A place of knowing that no matter what
obstacles or painful circumstances we face, God is there for us, lovingly
holding us, walking with us, and has the ultimate say over our future. Because
once we understand and realize this, than there is no fear in letting go, in
surrendering our hearts and lives to our Father.
Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the
plans I have for you” declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future”.
I think sometimes as Christians we
foolishly allow ourselves to misunderstand this declaration by our Father. We
want to believe and therefore allow ourselves to believe that it means that
life will be easy, pain free, without difficult trials and circumstances. If this
is your thought friend, than you have mistaken, it is actually quite the
opposite. Jesus says in John 16:33 “In this World you will have trouble. But
take heart! I have overcome the World!”
“In this World you will have trouble”
The words YOU WILL are not a possibility, a happen chance or a maybe…They are
a guarantee. You will have trouble, there will be pain, there will be heart ache….But even with
these guarantee’s we can still be confident in surrendering to our Father. Why?
“And we know that in ALL
THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
IN ALL THINGS….In sickness, death,
pain, uncertainty, confusion, loneliness and anything else that the World will
throw at us…God works for THE GOOD of those who love him. Paul
actually says in Ephesians 3:20 “now to him who is able to do immeasurably
more than all we ask or imagine”. God can do more than good and even
more than great in our lives when we surrender ourselves to him.
I have waited a very long time to write this blog. Why?
Because coming to a place of surrender in my life is actually the hardest thing
that I have ever done. Nobody wants pain or challenging circumstances in their
life, actually we would do anything to avoid them… at all cost. But no matter
what I choose, pain will come. The only thing that can take my worldly
circumstances and change them into something beautiful and prosperous and good
for me is my Father God. So let me ask you…Knowing what you know, what do you
choose…. A forced surrender to life’s circumstances that will come whether you
want them to or not, or a chosen surrender to a Father God who loves you more
than you will ever know or ever be able to contain…
With a heart full of love,
Ashley
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