"Trust Me"

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart,
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

Much as I hate to admit it, I like to know all that's going on in my life...the why's and wherefore's. I'm a happy camper even when unusual and sometimes negative things come into my life, if I can figure out why or how something has come about. I like to have all the pieces of a situation I can put into proper place. However in recent weeks, I have learned that I won't always have all the pieces to nicely sort out.

It's been one month since I was admitted to a local hospital. I went to the emergency room because of a reaction to an antibiotic I was taking for a kidney infection. Several years ago in Texas, I had the same thing happen so knew what needed to be done for the problem. However, a doctor in the ER decided I was experiencing a heart attack. I knew a heart attack should not only to be under consideration, but was overall ridiculous. However, the wheels of hospital protocol began to roll and I spent three days there going through just about every heart test possible including a heart cath. My mind was in a whirl. Everything was moving so fast, I couldn't keep up. I'm used to being somewhat in control of my life, but now it seemed as though I had absolutely no say in anything that was going on.

After three days in the hospital, I was discharged with my needle-punctured black and blue arms, horribly weary and really feeling sick. Even at home, I found myself wondering periodically what in the world had happened.

For anyone who has or is presently teaching the Bible in a Sunday school class or Bible study group, you know that we teachers will be held to a higher standard than those we teach. I'm thinking right now of a dear friend of mine in Austin, Mary, who is teaching the Sunday school class I once taught. I received a call one day that she had been in a horrible car accident and was critical at a local hospital. I got there as quickly as I could to see her dear husband. Mary was really torn up as a result of the wreck. It was a miracle not only for her to survive but to successfully make it through weeks and some months of therapy and recuperation. Mary, being a stronger Christian than I am may not have asked the “why's” I did, but I wondered them for her. There's no way she could have known when she left her home on that morning that on her way home would be involved in a wreck and taken to ICU at a local hospital. I can tell you though, that Mary was a blessing through it all more than she could ever know. I never heard a complaint even though she lived in a great deal of pain for weeks. She always had a smile and a good word for the Lord.

I am always so blessed when the Holy Spirit brings to mind Scriptures we have memorized through the years. Sometimes they bless us, encourage us or may even convict us. No matter what they do in our lives, such verses can teach all over again in a fresh way, the things of God.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 are verses most of us memorized in Bible School or in Sunday school classes. Some verses may even at times seem to be over used, even stale. Even though I love both of these verses, I must admit I haven't referred to them very much in quite awhile. Several days ago while still pondering the medical events in my life and still not being able to make much sense of it all, the Holy Spirit presented me with a sweet and refreshing reminder that not only gave me encouragement for the moment, but that I feel impressed to incorporate into my regular thinking. My heart heard two words....”Trust Me.” Now as I think on any number of things for which I have no answers, my heart echoes those two same precious words. They echo even as I write and are such a comfort. Yes, for me, “Trust Me” are words of conviction, but are words from a loving Father Who wants me to realize that He is in charge of whatever comes into my life whether I understand it or not. I have known that nothing can touch my life lest it filter first through the fingers of God. When rough times come, we are tested with how deeply we believe the words we so easily express with great pomp.

Looking at the entire verse of Proverbs 3:5, I find that too often I lean on my own understanding, wanting all the answers and wanting things to go my way. When I make the decision to trust God, I also must be willing to give up leaning on my own understanding. My understanding of things will very often lead me in the wrong way or will prove to be wrong in the end. Trusting Him means abandoning what I think I know for knowing what God thinks.

At this point, I love just saying those two words because they aren't just words. You and I can trust our Father through the thick and thin of life. He loves and cares for us beyond what words can express. When He says “Trust Me”, we know He can back up those words by working on our behalf. Whatever you face today, join me in the only appropriate response we can render to our loving, caring Heavenly Father...”I WILL trust You.”

Thank You Father for lovingly guiding me through the thick and thin of life. I so often want to take the controls from Your loving hands When I do, I really make a mess of things. I'm so grateful I can trust You in everything. In Jesus precious name....Amen