1. No matter what you have known of doubt, fear, or
betrayal, you are here today— right where you need to be. Trust the strong
thread that ties your life’s moments together. It is spun of Love.
2. Choose to be like a wild daisy or a field sparrow. Greet the
dawn, confident that you have all you need to be what you are meant to be. When
the day brings storm or drought, bird and flower hold on bravely to life.
Simply trust. Trust simply.
3. God wants only the best for you. The path may not be
easy, smooth, short, or detour-free. But it will get you where you need to be—
with God as your constant companion.
4. Trust tunes you to the wavelength of the music of the
universe. Listen… and the harmonies of life will become more apparent to you.
5. Trust stands tall, eyes awake to see, arms extended,
hands open to receive the good. Assume the posture of trust.
6. Be welcoming, not wary. Expect gifts, not troubles.
Anticipate the many disguises of grace and prepare to recognize them as they
appear.
7. You may learn dependence on God by first trusting a
friend or a spouse, or sharing the journey of someone else who struggles. Have
faith that God will send you the guides you need.
8. Practice awareness of God in times of blessing, so that
God’s presence is familiar in times of trouble. Recognize and reverence God’s
many manifestations: in nature, in other people, in unexpected places, in
unlikely miracles.
9. Practice words of trust: “I believe.” “I am confident.”
“I am not afraid.” These bold sentences will build bridges across the crevasses
of fear in your mind, heart, and soul.
10. You may learn to rely on God from practicing faith. Or
you may grasp the truth of trust as you hang by the fingernails of one hand
from a spiritual precipice. Some people, at some times, seem to require more
homework. Hang on!
11. Within your body and soul, God has planted seeds of
trust. Most people can trust their heart to beat and their lungs to fill. More
importantly, everyone can come to know what is good and holy. Let the holiness
within you guide your quest for trust in God.
12. Practice the prayer of trust. Lie back on the ground or
rest in a chair with your hands held open on your lap. Let your whole body say,
“I will allow God’s truth to emerge in my life. I am ready.”
13. Faith expects life to reveal its goodness. Fear dreads
the approach of the day. You can feel the effects of fear in your body. Let
yourself fall into God’s embrace.
14. You trust the sun and the moon and the tides. You
believe that God has a plan for melting day into night, for turning the seasons
of the year. Would God fail to have a plan for you?
15. You trust in electricity, plumbing, alarm clocks. You
trust traffic lights, bus and plane schedules, the refrigerator and the
furnace. All these fail. God is more worthy of your trust than the weather
forecaster! Back into trust, if you must.
16. If you can’t begin by believing in God’s love for you,
begin by believing that the earth’s surface can support your weight while
gravity keeps you from floating off. In the simplest actions, you reveal
considerable trust.
17. Trust does not make us immune to trouble. Bad things do
happen to trusting people. But it can give us something to hold on to when life
is crumbling around us. Hold on, hold fast, hold out!
18. It’s true God works in mysterious ways— but often
through natural processes, ordinary people, normal events. Look for things
falling into place, truth dawning, healing happening. Believe in everyday
miracles!
19. In whom have you placed your trust? Picture God as that
person – your grandma, your coach, your kindergarten teacher. Trust God in the
ways you trusted that person – bandage your wounds, dry your tears, lead you on
new paths.
20. Confide one of
your doubts or fears to a loved one. Or ask a favor of someone you know. When
human beings respond with generosity and goodwill, you get the smallest hint of
the good God wants for you.
21. When you visit the valley of the shadows, do not go
empty-handed. To face a single terror, you need at least 10 memories of trust
honored, of good experienced. Rehearse and store those memories now of the dark
times of the future.
22. Trust can be broken – or bent to the breaking point – by
the actions of others. You can despair or you can reaffirm your faith in the
basic goodness of people and the power of God to heal all wounds.
23. Trust is tested by doubt – which can be triggered by
pain or betrayal, hardship or loss. In times of doubt, remember past
faithfulness and blessings and anticipate new one’s. Know that God can transform
trial into triumph.
24. When roads come to an end, planes crash, babies die,
crops fail, or houses burn, God is present. Yet God is not the dead end, the
crash, the death, the failure, or the fire.
Look to God to find power in the midst of pain, to turn loss to gain, to
make ends into beginnings.
25. We can have confidence that creation is unfolding
according to God’s will, but we can also help to make it so. Use your special gifts to bring kindness,
peace, and healing to a world in need.
26. Faith means searching for the divine in events that
bless us as well as events that try our souls. This is the seesaw truth of
trust – to sense God’s hand in both turmoil and tranquility. Hold on tight
through the ups and downs of life.
27. Help God help you. As a proverb says “Call on God, but
row away from the rocks.” Do what you need to do. Paddle in the right
direction.
28. Resignation and trust are not twins. Resignation bows
under the weight. Trust simply waits. Trust as a child does – with innocence
and confidence and anticipation of the good that is to come.
29. If you decide to rely completely on your own power to work
out life’s dilemmas, God will not somehow revoke your heavenly insurance
policy. You are always loved dearly. Count on God to be infinitely patient.
30. Trust is not an attitude. Trust acts. Wait in trust, and
you wait with hope. Act in trust, and you
open yourself up to divine action and abundance in your life.
31. A world without trust is unreliable, unruly, and
inhospitable. A life without trust is tiny, timid, and tense. Place your hand
in God’s, to ensure against a life and a world too narrow for love.
32. Depending on God isn’t foolishness or fancy. It isn’t
laissez-faire or lackadaisical. It requires and creates courage. Be strong!
33. Faith relieves us of the burdens imposed by the past and
the future. Trust… and you will find yourself in the present and the presence
of God.
34. Faith requires that we rely on the invisible. What can
be seen may appear to fall short of a blessing. Yet grace is as strong as
gravity. Rely on the Almighty, and you will find yourself pulled toward heaven
as certainly as gravity pulls you toward earth.
35. Just because you don’t feel serene and enlightened all
the time doesn’t mean you’ve flunked Trust-In-God 101. Sometimes feelings lag
behind. Go through the motions-walk the walk, talk the talk, pray the prayer until
the sense of God-with-you returns. Trust in trust.
36. Trust is not spiritual equipment to be used only in case
of crisis-like a parachute or airbag. Reliance on God is an expression of
truth, a set of your soul, a way of life. Trust God whenever…whatever…wherever…
forever.
37. God trusts you. God delights in your desire to
strengthen your faith. Every movement of your searching heart is a holy gift.
Believe in the quest itself.
38. God invites , “Trust me!” What will you reply? Could you
really say, “Not today,” or “Let me give it some more thought,” or “Why should
I?” Or will you simply whisper , “Teach me to trust; I’m afraid, but I place my
hand in yours”?
