If I trust God, how will that affect my behavior?
That depends on what I trust God to do or be. If my expectation is that God will beat up my enemies and make sure I get what I pray for, then I am likely to act proud, vindictive, and entitled. Trusting God to be on “my side” implies that people who don’t agree with me or who don’t treat me as I think they should are on the “other” side, which is the wrong side.
However, if I trust God to love me, forgive me, heal me, guide me, and be with me through everything, then I will act like a person who can enjoy life as a gift and who does not have to fight and grab for what she wants, because she is free to be content as circumstances shift and change. If I trust God to be God and remain with me and use a variety of situations to strengthen and teach me, then I don’t need to create enemies out of people who seem opposed to me. I can relax and accept any person as someone loved by God—and I can trust God to work in that person, starting with where he or she is now.
If I trust God, I will not be a fearful person; it’s as simple as that. Because perfect love casts out fear, I can discern my level of trust on any given day by assessing how much fear is playing a part in what I do, say, think, and focus on.
If I trust God, then I will be able to talk to God even on the days when I am acting proud, vindictive, entitled, and fearful. My trust can clear the way for me to fume or cry in God’s presence rather than hide from God and avoid the discussion. It’s important to remember that people can trust God but still behave badly. The trust is what enables them to recognize what’s happening and turn back to God.
I hope you have the courage soon to ask yourself what you trust God to do and who you trust God to be. How we perceive God being involved with us determines how we choose to be involved with God.
A little child always makes references of his “good” dad wherever he goes. He boasts about his dad and when he feels threatened, he falls back to his dad – he has complete trust in his “insufficient” dad. In as much as people come from different family backgrounds and cultures, I feel, if we all cultivate and have this blind level of trust in our sufficient heavenly Father, we’ll begin to see and treat each other with much love and respect. Earthly fathers indeed have a huge role to play in helping their children develop this trust and consciousness, and placing everything in God’s hands. Many thanks to Papa Francisco for declaring the coming year, a Year of St. Joseph; and many thanks to you Venita, for your great insight.
“I can discern my level of trust by discern how much fear is playing a part…”. This is so helpful….thank you.
Nice and deep serious thoughts that encourage reflection, meditation, contemplation and discernment. Thanks a lot Vinita. Indeed, life is to be cherished, respected and enjoyed as a gift.
Dear Vinita, You make it sound fairly easy and straight-forward… Circumstances are not the same for all of us; as you must surely be aware. Different personalities can be a challenge , especially among those one loves but have different opinions on many things, some that that make it difficult to communicate with them. Not About who is RIGHT, sometimes just keeping a distance makes it less threatening to one’s anxiety levels, even if they are part of ones’s close family but don’t live anywhere near one, to actually really know and SEE how one is coping. I pray every day for the grace I need to overcome this.
Thank you for your thoughts and Reflections for 2020 (and before). Wishing you the Joy of a Holy and Happy Christmas.God Bless.
My trust is in a God of justice. Sometimes it is easy to realise our behaviour is not acceptable, but of course sometimes other people may deliberately ‘press our buttons’ and this is not acceptable behaviour either. No one can say they have never acted ‘proud, vindictive and entitled’ over some issue. I guess the key to getting along with others is to be polite and thoughtful and expecting the same behaviour in return. Then trust can slowly be built. Certainly I do agree that when we recognise what’s happening we can turn to God in prayer and, of course, trust.
This was sent for me today
As a health professional who has been mentally affected by this pandemic my prayer is to be able to abandon my anxiety and trust
Thanks for this vinita