I've been looking for a job for around 2 years and I could really use one right about now. While I want to see God's faithfulness, I have been meditating on how to keep my trust in God alive while avoiding 'the other side of the coin.'
I'm sure that you have been praying and waiting on God for something my friend. I hope this post helps you to keep trust alive. Let me describe how I am keeping hope alive when life gets difficult.
Keeping Trust Alive:
Read God's promises • I practice this by reading the One Year Bible, meditating on it and writing down what I learn. I also write down different promises God has given me which remind me of His faithfulness to me. This morning I read them and they really encouraged me.
The other side of the coin:
Forget the Bible exists and becomes desperate... and the internet has tolerate all of that • You won't believe how many times I had to come to my (holy) senses and press delete. When I am wrestling with my feelings, I am tempted to retaliate online. Regurgitating online is not the way of wisdom. I have decided that if there isn't hope and redemption by the end of a post, I should avoid it all together. I do believe in expressing myself to people who earned the right to hear, empathize and counsel with love. I'm earning my right to make the internet a more hopeful place by using it as a place of stories of redemption and hope.
Keeping Trust Alive:
Hold on to God's character • I trained myself to read the Bible in such way that I discern God's character. For example, I read the story of Noah and I realize God is merciful. He is slow to anger. He is kind and He has a plan to prosper us as we obey His commands. God's character had sustained my faith when everything around me tells me to act otherwise.
The other side of the coin:
Holds on to the Circumstance itself • This is when I look at my desperate circumstance and I start to welcome shame, fear and hopelessness into my life to stay. Not cool and definitely not good for my health.
Keeping Trust Alive:
Grab a hold of hope • Hope is the "Joyful and confident expectation of good, anticipation of good." It is the weirdest thing to have Hope when my circumstances tell me to act otherwise but thank God, that's exactly how I feel. I know the true source of hope is my amazing God.
The other side of the coin:
Become hopeless • Here are the 6 symptoms of hopelessness friends:- Doubt
- Disbelief
- Fear
- Fact or sharp focus on reality
- Discouragement
- Pessimism
I've been praying for a specific cause for 8 months or so friends. I must admit that the going gets tough and I get discouraged sometimes. During one of those moments, God reminded me that the issue is not the answer to my prayer but the key issue is trust in God. Will He deliver what He promised? Can He really do this on my behalf? It's up to me to keep hope in the picture because God is faithful to His word.
Who would ever guess that my trust in God can be seen in how I react to my current circumstances! I'm not going for perfection here my friend. The goal is to develop a deeper relationship of unshakeable trust in a God who is completely reliable.
• How can you keep trust alive today?
• Which side of the coin will you culture today as you think about your journey with God?
More in this series:
• Job interview as a dance
• Closed Doors
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