Putting It to the test...

TRUST! 

If you have read our blog for any length of time or have read the post unrelated to crafting and our baby you have read a lot about trust. Summary in case you are a new reader; at the beginning of the year I choose the word trust to symbolize how I wanted to grow this year and what I wanted God to teach me. It was a struggle as plans we had made were constantly being altered for God's plans. While it was difficult to accept the new plans at that time, we both know God's plans ultimately were far better than anything we could think or imagine.

After struggling with even knowing how to start trusting God; in March I made a little book of forty different verses that I found online that were all about trust. Over the past couple of months I have read a verse during my time with God. I have The Message Bible paralleled with The NIV version so I read the verse in each version and then wrote out my thoughts.

The time I spent studying those verses grew me in a bigger way than I could have imagined. I read my last verse last night. While nothing major had happened to make me put my new found trust to test, I knew that I was changed and had learned to truly trust God.

Today it was put to test! I don't believe God test us to play a game with us or watch us fail but rather to watch us grow, to get glory, and to teach us. So while I feel like he is testing to see if I have learned how to trust, I also know he is walking beside me through this test.

Phillip is looking for a full time job and just interviewed for one. We were both confident he had a good chance of getting it. However, he did not. But we have prayed that whatever God's will was that it would be done and ultimately we know that God must have a better plan for Phillip than we could have even thought. I won't lie it was a little disappointing hearing that he didn't get the job.

But tonight, I don't question God and beg him to give me answers about our future. I'm not angry at him for this not working out, and as the possibility of me having to go back to work and leave my baby next fall looms. I know he has a plan. I TRUST him.

It's not easy by any means. I want answers to all of my questions about our future. But I can't help but remember all of the verses that have impacted my life over the past few months and have taught me to surrender it all (my future, my family, my questions) so that I can say that I truly TRUST God.

Ps. 9:10 "God's a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times. The moment you arrive you relax; you're never sorry you knocked" (The Message)

Ps. 13:5 "I've thrown myself headlong into your arms- I'm celebrating your rescue." (The Message)

Ps. 31:14 "Desperate I throw myself on you: YOU are my God!" (The Message)

Ps. 40:4 "Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn to false gods." (NIV)

Ps. 56: 3-4 "When I get really afraid I come to you in trust. I'm proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God. What can men do?" (The Message)

Ps. 112:7 "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." (NIV)

Ps. 143:8 "If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I'll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel, I'm all ears, all eyes before you." (The Message)

Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding." (NIV) "Trust God from the bottom of your heart don't try to figure out everything on your own." (The Message)

Isa. 26:4 "Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal." (NIV)

John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled, "Trust in God, trust also in me [Jesus]"" (NIV)

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (NIV)