Why is it so difficult to trust God? We believe in God. We have faith in Him. But do we trust Him? In the Trust series, we look at women whose stories encourage us to trust. I asked the same set of questions of all of them: What is your definition of trust? Was there ever a moment where the only thing you could do in a situation was trust God? What makes you know you can trust someone?
As with the others, the depth of her faith and trust in the Lord began to shine through the words on the pages as I read each response to the questions I asked. Her testimony is well worth repeating and sharing with the world.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”
Trust is placing confidence in someone or something. “I think of it as a positive—trusting a friend with a confidence, a child trusting their parent for advice, etc. But there is also a negative aspect when we trust in something that is wrong. We can have misplaced trust, sometimes even knowing ahead of time that the person or thing should not be trusted. There is only One who can be trusted every time,” she said.
“I had to trust God the most when my husband of 28 years left. Emotionally, physically, financially, mentally…I had no other way to survive but to trust the Lord and lean on Him. And He was faithful beyond my expectations.”
I asked her if she could look back and see God’s hand at work in her life, even during those painful times. She gazed about and said, “I couldn’t see it at the time, but God had started working things out for me. Everything is in God’s perfect timing. He knew ahead of time what I was going to need.”
She told me that before her husband left, and while she was working as a parapro in the media center, a teacher overheard her helping a student, and that teacher asked, “Why aren’t you teaching?” That question changed the course of her life completely. Little did she know that the Lord was in that question!
Because of God’s grace, strength, and direction, this woman went on to get her undergraduate degree and get a masters’ degree and a specialist degree in Media and Technology. “There was a lot of praying to go on through those years, along with Christian music while on long drives back and forth to Carrollton. But prayer was the key—along with faithful, caring friends—and has always been important to me. I’ve learned to keep prayer and thankful journals so I can look through them and see where God has answered many of those prayers.”
“God takes care of us. He is faithful to protect us, love on us, and provide for us. God’s provision was evident in my life when he saved me from a car accident I was recently in. I fell asleep behind the wheel and woke up as I was careening into a cemetery. The car was totaled, the hundred-year-old church cemetery sign was in pieces on the ground, several headstones were knocked off their bases, and car parts were scattered everywhere. The only scratch I had was on my neck from the cross necklace I always wear. When I returned to the scene a few days later, I saw my tire tracks in the grass leading straight into a wooden fence. My car had finally stopped far from that spot, yet there were no tire tracks that curved outward to show me turning to avoid an impact with that fence. Only God could have protected me from being injured or killed that day. That experience has changed my perspective on how precious life is.”
She told me the song that came to her mind over the years that had come to mean as much to her as some of her favorite scripture verses was, Great is Thy Faithfulness; and she began to sing the chorus:(words from Lamentations 3:21-24).
This woman of prayer put her belief in God to action and trusted him. How about you? Are you at a place where it seems there is no hope? Why not put your trust in the One who can be trusted? All you have needed, God’s hand has provided.
Blessings y’all!!!
Annette Burrell
CHM Contributor
