How to Trust God

What We Can Learn from Toddlers

Megan Breedlove July 18, 2016 0Comment

It seems that as parents (or, in my case, a godparent) of toddlers, we spend the majority of our time trying to teach them things.

Don’t put that in your mouth!

Hands are for loving, not hitting.

Sweetie, the cat doesn’t like it when you do that.

Teaching our toddlers the things they need to know is good and right.  It’s important.  It’s part of our job.

But I believe that God put toddlers in our lives not only to learn from us, but also to teach us.

Take, for example, an incident that happened with my godson the other day (he’s 17 months old) when I was babysitting him.

Marshall had climbed up onto the piano bench.  He loves to bang on the piano keys and listen to all the different, cool noises they make.  But, being a toddler, his attention span is only so long.  After a few moments of playing, he attempted to get down from the bench.

The only problem was, his technique needed a little work.  Marshall turned onto his stomach on the bench and tried to lower his legs down to the floor.  This might actually have worked, except that the bench was pretty close to the piano.  Marshall wound up halfway to the ground, wedged between the bench and the bottom of the keyboard, clinging to the bench with all his might.  Naturally, he began to fuss, and he was working up to a good cry when I swooped in and grabbed him under the armpits.

You know what happened next.  When Marshall felt my firm grip on him, he released his grip on the piano bench and allowed me to pull him upward to safety.

I think the lesson God wanted me (and you) to learn is this: Marshall did exactly the right thing when he found himself in a scary situation: he cried for help.  But then, when help came, he utterly released his grip on the piano bench.

If Marshall hadn’t believed I could handle his problem, he would have kept clinging to the bench.  But because he trusted me implicitly, he turned all handling of the situation over to me without hesitation.  In other words, he acted upon his trust.

You and I are pretty good about calling for God when we’re in trouble.  But when He shows up, we keep clinging to the bench because we’re afraid He won’t resolve our problem the way we want Him to.

I realize full well that God doesn’t always do what we want.  But it all comes down to this:  Do we, or do we not, believe that God’s handling of our problem will be right and good?

We may say with our minds that we believe it will.  But our grip on the piano bench will show what we really believe.  Will we keep clinging to the bench, as if our efforts to save ourselves could somehow be better than His?

Or will we cling to Him, believing that nothing we could do is better than what He is ready to do?

Psalm 34:4—I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  (KJV)

Trusting in the Right Things

Megan Breedlove August 18, 2014 0Comment

It hasn’t been a very hot summer in our part of Texas this year. We’ve only had twelve days where the temperature has reached or exceeded one hundred degrees, as opposed to twice that many days (or more!). Nonetheless, there have been enough hot days that the kids and I have gotten to go to the water park at our local YMCA several times.

The kids love the water park, especially Jessica and Lindsey. (Ellie and Kenny prefer playing inside in the Youth Zone, where they can play video games for a couple hours; Timmy stays in the nursery.) I actually love it, too. It’s fun to watch Lindsey perform swimming feats for me or to take Jessica into the deep end and play with her there.

When we go into the deep end, Jessica wears a life jacket. That way, she can do some “swimming” on her own (with me right next to her) and not be afraid she’ll sink. She wasn’t always so confident, though.

At first, even with a life jacket, Jessica wouldn’t allow me to take my hands off of her. I explained to her multiple times that with the life jacket on and Mommy right next to her, it was impossible for her to drown.

Jessica tried to have courage. “Let go,” she would say, and so I’d release her from my arms. Almost immediately, she would panic and reach for me again, relaxing only when she felt my arms around her.

She knew in her head that the life jacket would keep her afloat, but she still didn’t really trust it.

We’re like that with God, too, sometimes, aren’t we? We know in our heads that He’ll take care of us, but we still don’t really trust Him. Even though we have God within us, just as Jessica had the life jacket all around her, when we panic, we still reach for other things to provide the reassurance and security that we crave.

We don’t trust Him to be enough.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with receiving comfort from friends and family when we’re in need. The problem comes in when we rely more on them than we do on God. When we trust people to do a better job of sustaining us in our troubles than God will.

The only thing is that in order to learn to rely on God, you have to practice. Just as Jessica had to keep practicing with the help of the life jacket alone, so we need to keep practicing relying on God so that we can learn by experience that He will, indeed, keep us afloat. That’s why so many people don’t have a soul-deep trust in God: they’ve never cast themselves completely upon Him. They’ve never given Him the chance to prove that He can—and will!—bear them up. They’ve left that job primarily to other people, things, or situations. Then, when their troubles pass, their relationship with God isn’t much deeper than it was before, because He hasn’t done much for them (or so they think).

Trusting can be scary—at first. It’s not easy to trust something or someone new. But when you learn that that person or thing really is trustworthy, it’s not scary at all.

I told you earlier that Jessica no longer has a fear of letting go of me, as long as she is wearing the life jacket. That’s because she’s had enough experience with it that she trusts it. Her believe that it would support her became not just something she assented to in her head because Mommy said so, but something she has lived.

Are you living with God supporting you today? Am I? Or are we relying more on other people or things? Our trust in God will never grow as long as we look primarily to other things to comfort or sustain us.

The only way to grow our trust in God is to practice trusting Him. That means letting Him bear more of the “weight” of our troubles and watching Him handle it well.

Are you willing to cast yourself completely upon Him, spiritually speaking, and let Him support you? I don’t know the details of your situation, but I do know God, so I can guarantee you this: You won’t be disappointed.

Psalm 91:4—He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. (ESV)

The Whole Picture

Megan Breedlove October 17, 2011 0Comment

I love it when we’re on a long trip in our minivan and the kids are watching a movie on the DVD player, using headphones so that Phil and I don’t have to hear it. We’ll be driving along in relative silence for awhile when one of the kids will say, in response to the video, something so seemingly random (because we haven’t heard the part of the movie to which they are responding) that it’s hilarious.

Take, for example, our recent trip to San Antonio (about 4.5 hours away). We were on the way home, and Lindsey and Jessica were watching Word World. Suddenly, Jessica called out, “It’s because he’s allergic to peaches!”

That struck me and Phil as funny because to us, it was completely out of the blue. Of course, if we had heard the part of the episode leading up to it, I’m sure it would have made complete sense and probably not been funny at all.

As I thought about this—about how the reason it was so funny was not because of the words themselves, but because they were out of context—I realized something. Lots of things seem “out of context” to us in life. They appear random, completely unexpected. But that’s because we don’t have the big picture of which they are a part. Some of these things are funny; some are confusing; and some are sad or even tragic. But all of them would make sense if we could only see the whole picture the way God sees it.

The problem is that we can’t see things that way. We see only a fraction of what is going on, only a thread of how a particular happening or event is being woven into the entire tapestry of our lives and the much larger tapestry of God’s plan for the world. When something happens that we can’t imagine what kind of picture it might fit into, we get confused. This can’t be a part of any picture I would approve of, we think to ourselves. Maybe we even say something like it out loud. I can’t imagine why God would do this or allow this, or, more to the point, A loving God wouldn’t do that.

In other words, we question God because we can’t see what He sees. My friend, I assure you that God doesn’t randomly hand out pain with no purpose behind it. He has a purpose. We’re just so far from being able to see the entirety of what’s going on that we don’t “get it”. In our limited, finite humanness, we’re bewildered. How could this happen?

I don’t know why bad things have happened in your life, or in mine. I don’t claim to know God’s purpose behind it all. But I do know that God is God when I’m in pain just as much as He is when things are going well for me. He’s not a loving God when I feel blessed and an unkind, capricious one when I hurt. He’s the same God always, and if I could only see the way He sees, I would understand and accept why a particular event had to happen.

But I can’t see everything like God does, and I never will. So what do I do—what do you do—when something seems out of place to us? When it’s painful?

During those times, we pray for the grace to truly believe that God sees the whole picture and that He knows what He’s doing. You and I will never entirely share God’s perspective. He is so infinitely far above us that we will spend all eternity learning new things about Him. But we can choose to believe what we know to be true and not let painful circumstances cause us to doubt. They may temporarily steal our peace from us, our possessions, or even our loved ones. We don’t have to let them steal our faith too.

Ecclesiastes 8:17—I saw everything God has done. No one can understand what happens on earth. Man might try very hard to figure it out. But he still can’t discover what it all means. A wise man might claim he knows. But he can’t really understand it either.

Is God Real?

Megan Breedlove August 1, 2011 0Comment

Sometimes young children can come up with the most profound questions about God. For example, the other day, my husband was in the kitchen when five-year-old Lindsey came into the room. “Daddy, Jessica says God isn’t real,” she said.

“Yes, He’s real,” Phil said.

Lindsey turned and ran back into the living room. A few seconds later, Jessica came into the kitchen. “Daddy, is God weal?” she asked.

Fortunately, my husband realized what Jessica was really asking. She knew that God was real—we’ve taught her that—but she wanted to know how that can be the case when you can’t see or touch Him.

Phil pulled a quarter out of his pocket. “Is this quarter real?” he asked her.

She nodded. “How do you know?” he asked.

“Because it’s gway,” she said.

“Can you see it?” he asked.

Again she nodded. This time, Phil folded his hand closed around the quarter. “Now can you see it?”

“No,” she said.

“But is it still real?”

“Yeah,” she said, grinning as if to say that the question was silly.

My husband went on to make the point that just because we can’t see or touch God doesn’t mean He’s not real. I love the illustration he used. In fact, I bet God loved it too. Why? Because it’s the same illustration He used in teaching us about Himself.

God was real long before we became aware of Him (just as the quarter was real before Jessica knew about it). But God knew we needed to see Him. So He sent His Son Jesus. And in seeing Jesus, we saw the Father. But then, He went away for a little while (after His ascension), and we could no longer see Him. In fact, He told His disciples repeatedly that this was exactly what was going to happen—that they would see Him for a little while, but then no longer. Now, He sits at the right hand of the Father, until such time as the Father will send Him to earth to claim those who are His.

Is He still real, even now that we can’t see Him and touch Him? Of course He is. His reality is not determined by our limited, human sight.

But one day, our faith will become sight. One day, the Father will command the Son, “Go!” And the heavens will open, and Jesus will descend, just as He promised. Oh, make no mistake about it. He’s real. On that day, what we now know by faith, we will then know by sight. The Father will open His hand, and we’ll see Jesus. And we’ll know He was there all along.

1 Corinthians 13:12—For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Walking by Sight

Megan Breedlove November 8, 2010 0Comment

Apparently, campouts are one of God’s favorite ways to illustrate His spiritual truth. That seems to be the case in my life, at least. Take, for example, our recent church campout. Even before we left, God had already reminded me of a lesson we all need to learn (see last week’s devotional). On the campout itself, He continued to speak. In fact, He taught me that walking by sight can be a good thing. Let me explain.

My husband was leading Kenny and Lindsey to the small building that housed the bathrooms. Fortunately, they were not only well-maintained, but also close by. It was dark at this point, so my husband was supervising the use of a flashlight to light their way. He reminded the kids not to shine it in people’s eyes (which they have a tendency to do on accident) but instead to shine it directly on the path in front of them.

One of them took the flashlight and pointed the beam of light toward the bathrooms up ahead. “No,” my husband said, “you have to shine it right in front of you. Otherwise, you might trip over something that’s in your way.”

“And you always follow the light,” Lindsey added.

That pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it? Keep the light pointed right in front of you, and follow it.

God will often illumine two things for us: the goal and the first few feet in front of us on the way to reaching that goal. Just as the kids’ flashlight could either have lighted up the bathrooms or the path right in front of them, so God often shows us only those two things. He usually doesn’t light up the entire pathway on the way to the goal. He wants us to walk by sight to the extent of moving forward as far as He’s illuminated our way, and to walk by faith in terms of trusting that He will continue to light our path as we proceed toward the goal.

Sometimes, God doesn’t even illuminate the goal. In that case, we have to walk by faith that we will reach the goal He’s set for us. In those circumstances, we are to continue to follow the part of our path He’s made known (the part right in front of us), and trust that each “next step” He lights up will bring us not into danger, but closer to where He wants us.

I know it can be really hard to walk this way. But it’s what we have to do. Fretting about not being able to see the whole path won’t cause God to light up any more than what He’s already lit up. God knows that He’s given us enough light for what we need right now, and we simply have to believe that that’s true and trust that He knows what He’s doing. It really is as simple as that. It may not be easy, but it is simple.

Is there an area in your life where you’re having a hard time believing that you know enough about what’s ahead? Are you worried or anxious because you can’t see farther than a few steps ahead, or because you’re not even sure of your next step? Why not make a decision of your will to trust God that He’s taking care of you? That He knows the entire path ahead, even though you don’t, and that He’ll show you what you need to know, when you need to know it?

You’ll make it to the goal. God will see to that. But you can determine the measure of peace you have along the way. You can either trust God completely, and therefore know that you have nothing to worry about; or you can decide that the fact that God sees everything isn’t enough, and that unless you see everything, you cannot have peace. But who are you—who am I—to think that we ought to feel safer when we see things than when the Almighty God of the Universe, Who is Master of all things, sees everything and says that it’s okay?

Precious mom, let’s turn things entirely over to God. Let’s determine that when He sees things, that’s good enough for us. Let’s resolve deep within our hearts and minds that when He’s leading us home, we’re just where we ought to be, and nothing can befall us that’s outside of God’s control.

For after all, God is leading us home. Every step we take under His leadership brings us closer to heaven. And then, we will see everything, because there will be no more darkness. There will be no difference between walking by faith and walking by sight. Instead of reaching a wooden shelter at a campground, we’ll reach the loving shelter of His eternal embrace. And we’ll realize that we were in His hands all along.

Isaiah 42:16—And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

Let Me See

Megan Breedlove October 11, 2010 0Comment

A couple days ago, the kids and I piled into the van and headed out for a morning of consignment sale shopping in a neighboring city. As we drove from the first sale to the second, we passed an ice cream shop we don’t have near our house, and I remembered that I had four coupons for free kid’s sundaes from that shop still in my purse since I had received them a year or two ago.

We stopped at the shop, and I drove through the drive-thru and ordered the four free sundaes. The lady who eventually handed them to me at the window seemed less than thrilled to give away four free items at the same time, but I thanked her politely and drove on.

Because I was feeling particularly generous that day, I let the kids eat their sundaes in the van as we drove to the second sale. A few minutes after she began eating, Jessica paused and said, “I’m thirsty.”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t bring any drinks,” I said.

“But I’m thirsty,” she repeated for emphasis.

“Sweetie, I don’t have anything to give you,” I said.

“Let me see,” she insisted.

“I can’t show you what I don’t have,” I said.

On one hand, the incident was amusing. After all, Jessica just wanted to verify for herself that there were, indeed, no drinks present. On the other hand, it was offensive. She didn’t trust my assessment of the situation.

God gets offended, too, when we refuse to trust what He says. Sometimes when He proclaims truth, we decide we’re not going to believe Him unless we can verify the facts for ourselves. When we do that, we’re telling Him that His judgment isn’t worthy of being relied upon—that we’ll trust our own judgment before we’ll trust His. Other times, we simply contradict God. He proclaims truth, and we tell Him He’s wrong because we see things differently. When we do that, we’re telling Him that He’s either a liar or sadly mistaken.

I wonder how much our lives would change if we began acting like the things God says really are true and accurate. For example, when God says we should consider trials pure joy because they produce so many excellent character qualities in us, what difference would it make if we actually started acting like we are joyful that our character is being refined instead of resentful about the trials? Or when God tells us that we should forgive, how much healing might we find if we actually forgave instead of refusing to do so because the person doesn’t deserve it? Or when we read God’s admonition to honor our husbands, what if we actually started to do so, instead of making excuses?

I know there are times when it’s hard to live as if God’s truth is really true. But to do anything less dishonors God. Refusing to let His truth permeate every area of our lives and bring all those areas into conformity with His will is the same thing as telling Him that He’s not worthy of being believed, respected, or trusted in those areas.

Moms, we need to repent of the shamefully arrogant attitude that says that we’re more qualified than God to assess anything. Compared to Him, we know nothing, and it’s well past time for us to stop setting ourselves up as the experts. Let’s determine that we’ll honor God no matter what, and accept His every assessment as our own. After all, He’s always right. So how in the world could it profit us to act as if He isn’t?

Psalm 19:7—The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.