From Fear to Trust

I love my church! I honestly am constantly amazed at how blessed I am that God has brought me to a place that I get to experience His presence and this grace through people around me. Moving to Sacramento, I never thought I could find something like what I had growing up. Something that felt like home... like a family... But God is good and his plan never ceases to amaze me!

Today Caleb spoke about moving from Fear to Trust in our lives which I found extremely appropriate for this Year of Boldness that I find myself in. Too many times in my life I have felt stuck. There are still aspects of my life in which I have felt stuck and way too often, those moments of feeling stuck come from fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of being alone. Fear of never getting married. Fear of never having kids.

Caleb gave an incredible word of what to do when there is nothing you can do. Often times people feel like they will never be happy again, or that nothing good can come from a particular situation, or that there is no point in continuing. But in those moments it is important to remember that God is not absent. God is not apathetic. And God is not angry.

Caleb encouraged us to move from fear to trust by first placing your trust in God alone. In Psalm 27: 1-3, David says that "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail  me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall." The Lord needs to be the stronghold of our lives. If he is for us, who can be against us? Caleb encouraged us to "trust in who God is, not what you need from him." How many times do we become discouraged and lose our faith in God when we don't get what we think we need from him? I know I am guilty of this. When things aren't happening according to my plan and my timeline for my life, I take matters into my own hands. But I was reminded today that I need to trust in who God is.

Secondly, to move from fear to trust we have to pursue the presence of God. This has actually been one of my resolutions this year and something I have been really encouraged by. My resolution has been to be in God's word everyday and so far, by the grace of God, I have been successful. Unless we have the presence of God in our lives, we cannot walk in the purpose He has for our lives.

Thirdly, to move from fear to trust, we have to acknowledge our desperate need of God. Even David in his faith and courage in the face of trials acknowledged that he needs God. Sometimes in these moments of crying out to God or in these moments of struggle when it feels like God is silent, we need to remember that God is not absent. Caleb shared, "Don't interpret God's silence as God's absence." God's silence may mean that He is preparing you for a great victory that will take place.

Finally, patiently wait on the Lord. This one really hit home for me (as you can read from my last post). Sometimes when it feels like God is absent, I try to make things happen on my own. I take things into my own hands and mistakenly think that God needs me help to make things happen in my life. We can start to feel that God is further and further away from us, but he has not moved. "Do not confuse God's appeared absence as apathy." He is still present and wants to bring you into a life filled with Joy, and Hope, and Purpose.

I'll post the link to the sermon when it's posted because it was a great one. But I wanted to share with you some of the encouragement that I received this morning. It spoke to my heart and it was for sure something that I needed to hear. I hope that you are blessed by it as well.