Family Faith-Building: Learning to Trust

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

He who promised is faithful. There have been many times, many seasons over the past 30 years of walking with the Lord when I didn’t believe those words. I believed a lie and it was a simple one: If I was ‘good’ then the Lord was bound to give me my hearts desire.

I figured it worked with child-rearing and since he was my Father it only made sense that if I behaved and followed all the rules he’d give me what I wanted.

And what I wanted was another baby. We’d had one amazing daughter 2 1/2 years before but after an ectopic pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, my fallopian tubes were shot and the experts were telling me and my husband we were done, no more babies for us unless we adopted. And our attempts at adoption fell through. Three times.

Well, I thought I had it all figured out. God was obligated to His word and He owed me another baby. I do good, He has to bless, isn’t that how this thing works?

Not so much. I wrongly believed God was obligated to me. To me!! Can you even imagine? But in my immaturity, {I didn’t come to know the Lord until I was 29} He taught me some huge life lessons. He took me a long way around to come to three realizations, three truths about Him I couldn’t deny.

1. He isn’t interested in my happiness as much as my highest good. He knows me far better than I know myself and He also knows my future. No one knows exactly what I need more than God and my job is to trust Him even when I don’t understand. It’s the difficult part of maturing in Christ but oh so necessary if we’re ever really going to be able to trust Him.

Anything in life I think can satisfy more than Him simply won’t. He will have nothing less than my whole heart, full of Him and empty of all else including every idol rattling around I feel compelled to bow down to.

Sweet friend, nothing you desire, not the baby, not the relationship, or the job, the raise, the position, the husband, the influence or recognition, none of it compares to one real moment in God’s presence. As John Piper famously says, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

And God is most satisfied when He can look into our hearts and see His own face reflected there because our hearts are so full of Him.

2. God wants us to want Him for who He is not for what He gives. He is so much more than anything this world could offer although to be completely honest with you, I took a long time learning this. I wanted another baby way more than I wanted Him because I couldn’t see God’s why. All I could see was the huge hole in my heart, the empty place He couldn’t fill. The hurt and the hollow, the bleeding need.

It took some years before I was able to understand God’s why. He had very make-sense reasons why He wanted my husband and me to raise an only child. When I look at her life now, I get it and it makes complete sense, but it didn’t at the time.

3. His greatest mercy is sometimes wrapped in His deepest test. Oh it was hard to learn His mercy is so much bigger than our happiness. But know this: God is faithful. He promises it and He follows through.

Every. Single. Time.

It may not look the way we think it should but we aren’t the ones who get to pick. He chooses our future and our job is to ‘hold fast our confession of hope without wavering…’

Are you believing God for something you desperately want or need? What is He teaching you right now? Do you desperately want to avoid the lesson?

I know, I totally get it. But mama, the best thing you will ever have is Him. Whatever good thing you want, no matter how good it seems right now, can’t ever compare because good is always the enemy of the best. He’s so much more than you think. Let Him peel back the layers and get to your heart. It’s part of the maturing process.

As you allow Him access to your heart and submit to His deep lessons, you will gain intimacy with Him. As He takes you through and you find He comes through, as you gain firsthand knowledge of His faithfulness, you’ll hear His heartbeat and He will send you out to bring comfort, healing and hope to other bleeding souls.

And you’ll find, just like I did years ago that He is Enough.

How can I pray for you? It would be my honor.

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In order to share the importance of trust with our children, we must first understand it ourselves. What a beautiful example of the journey to fully trusting God. Thank you Kate for sharing your story. Such perfect timing as we discuss these faith-building principles with our children and what an honor to get a glimpse of your personal journey in the midst of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. It is a gift to have you here at Grace for Moms and we look forward to many more of your words of wisdom to come.

Friends, we want you to take a break and simply breathe in the beauty of Kate’s words today. Focus on your own journey of trust and those things you are believing him for right now in this season. Although everyone of us will always be on a journey of trust, it is never too early to begin to putting our trust in him. If you’d like to begin a conversation about trust with your children this week, here are a few talking points and truths.

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Psalm 71:5

 

3 Truths to Share with Your Child about Trust:

1. God is good and he loves us. He deserves our complete trust.

2. We can trust that God will do what’s best for us in every situation.

3. We may not always understand his ways but we can trust his heart.

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