in God i trust.

Lord, my heart is not proud;

nor are my eyes haughty.

I do not busy myself with great matters,

with things too sublime for me.

Rather, I have stilled my soul,

hushed it like a weaned child.

Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap,

so is my soul within me.

Israel, hope in the Lord,

now and forever.

Psalm 131

Trust in God. Do you trust Him? Completely enough to turn your life over to Him? Do I?

This issue has been on my mind for a long time. I’ve been pondering the subject of trust in God for many months now, but especially in the last week it has been on my mind. I try to trust in God. I say I do in all my prayers. It’s easy to say the words. But, words and actions are two very different things. The act of trust- proving my words- is much harder. It shouldn’t be, but sometimes “letting go and letting God” is scary. I don’t know what will happen when I do.

My parish has been offering Bible studies through the Great Adventure series throughout the last year. We started with A Quick Journey Through the Bible, and the underlying theme seemed to be trust in God. It really struck me. Every week, each of the fourteen books of the Bible that we read through, the theme of trusting in God was so prevalent. This may seem obvious to most, but I had never noticed it before. Had everyone trusted enough in God to obey Him, even when they were scared, so many problems could have been averted! It made me focus on my own life. How many times did I thwart God’s plans for me because of my lack of trust and obedience?

My children always come to mind when I think of this. My son is hanging from the monkey bars at the park. He can’t go any farther, but he’s afraid of getting hurt if he lets go. “I’m right here,” I tell him. “I’ll catch you.” But he doesn’t let go, he keeps hanging on- even though his arms hurt and his hands are slipping. It would be so much easier for him to let go so I can catch him, but he’s too afraid I’ll miss and he’ll hit the ground. I’ve never dropped him- he has no good reason to think that I will this time. Just so with God. He’ll never drop me. He never has. Letting go is just so scary sometimes!

My husband and I had to make a decision last week. We thought we knew what we were supposed to do, and then suddenly, several new options came up for us to consider. This wasn’t the kind of decision in which we could choose an option and if it didn’t work out we could try another. Whatever we chose was it. Understandably, we really didn’t want to make the wrong choice! After a few days of prayer (and a great, timely homily on trusting in God- it was like He was talking right to us!), we realized we didn’t have to make the choice. God was in control and He would take care of it. I agonized a little as I let go, but when I finally did, I felt so much better! Things are not falling into place the way I wanted them to, but I know from past experience that things will probably work out better. I just need to trust Him.

“He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.”
- St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

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