Monday, January 19, 2009

Trusting my Father

Yesterday we took the long hour and a half drive (which turned into a three hour drive because of snow and other such back-ups) up to the Grand Rapids area where all of our relatives live, to visit my grandma who was just out of the hospital and a cousin who is currently in. After the visiting, we stopped at my other Grandparents house and had a WONDERFUL supper of vegetable lasagna, chicken, rolls and applesauce. After loading up our family into the van, we took off for the ride home in the dark. We all(minus Mom and Dad, thankfully) fell asleep within a half hour, me sandwiched between Devin and Katelin in the back seat of our 15 passenger van. The weather was horrible and there were vehicles all over in the ditches. Dad later said he counted up to 12. There were times when you could hear the van skidding against the ice on the roads(by the way, this was after I woke up). The whole time, I was never afraid that we would go in the ditch. I trusted that my father would bring us home safe and sound. I have been in vehicles that he drives for years and living in Michigan in the winter calls for some good drivers, which he is. We drove through a huge ice storm once and I was fine. As long as the heat was on in the van, I had a blanket and could fall asleep, I was happy as a lark! There was a man with us however who was not used to traveling in such conditions and he was scared stiff. He later told my Dad that he had never prayed so hard in his life. I don't think he trusted my Dad. :)

Trusting my earthly father is one thing. I want to be able to trust my heavenly Father even more! There are so many verses in the Bible about trusting God.

The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
—Psalm 118:6-9

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
—Proverbs 3:5-6

“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
—Isaiah 12:1

Trust. It is great, small, hard thing to do. Many find it hard to trust anyone, but there is no one more trustworthy than God. He has never broken a promise, always taken care of us, seen us through everything, and has always been there for us. I am sure you have probably had a friend that you were sure you could trust, but didn't keep their promise. God is not at all like that. He will stick by you whatever your trials. He will take care of you. All we need to do is trust Him. Like a child in a vehicle during a storm, you don't need to worry about getting home safely, where you are supposed to be in 20 years from now, etc. Trust God to lead you one step at a time.

I have heard from many people recently "what am I supposed to be doing in life? Where I am supposed to be?" Just trust God to lead you.

The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you."
-Psalm 32:8

I am not an expert on trusting and I am not pretending to be. I am learning all about this, even as a write this! My prayer is that you can find something out of these random thoughts and hopefully this can be an encouragement you.

May God bless you all!
~Bethany~

3 comments:

Jenna said...

That was an Excellent post Bethany, as well as a WONDERFUL encouragement and reminder to me:) I to, am learning to trust my earthly Father, but also my heavenly Father - not always the easiest thing to do...

Had a great time visiting with you for a little bit yesterday:)

Have a great day,
Your friend,
Jenna

Joshua said...

Thanks for the post Bethany. An excellent post it was. God was definitely protecting your family in that ice storm. Praise Him for that. You are fully correct on everything that you said. I am also still learning how to trust God as well. As you said, God has always kept His promises. He will never leave you nor forsake you. It is not always easy at times to trust Him, but He holds our future in His hands.

Blessings,
Joshua :)

Anonymous said...

Bethany, that was an AMAZING post! I am tring to trust my heavenly father, as well as my earthly father. GREAT POST!