Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; and in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. -Proverbs 3:5-6
This is one of my favorite bible verses.
Doesn’t it just roll off the tongue speaking comfort and confidence into His plan for us? I went to a conference a few months ago and my favorite speaker, Megan Marshman, broke this verse down and it brought me to a different level of awareness in my own life.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart…even the messy and broken parts. I start my day surrendering to Jesus on my knees and end my day in quiet reflection intentionally naming all the ways I saw Him. I dance in worship, talk to Him all throughout my day.
I have so much joy that comes only from Jesus even when grief has been overwhelming… and still, I find myself saying, “I know you’ve got me Lord, and your plan is perfect BUT…”
As if I need to reassure Him of my faith in His plan or remind Him that I trust Him…why is it so hard to just start with the prayers that come after the BUT?? As if telling him I am angry or sad or feel like I am messing it all up will make Him love me less?? Admitting I am not happy with His plan will hurt His feelings?
Megan said, “Why do we trust the Lord with our very salvation but not with everything else?” We give Him our heart and then lean on our own understanding for the rest. WOW.
I have been working so hard this past year trying to “figure it all out”. These uncharted waters have been so rough to swim through I find myself treading water until I am exhausted. Crazy how as humans we dance in praise, rest in His perfect words, lean into the wisdom of spiritual mentors, sit at the foot of the cross and lay down our burdens and then jump into the water and think were supposed to swim it alone.
Our God already knows our heart and our struggles but when we bring it to Him and when we are honest in our prayers, especially the messy ones, it brings us to a different level of trust. The beautiful thing about growing trust and honesty is the by product can be relaxed.
Relaxed during our crazy, uncertain, messy circumstances to know that regardless of what we do, our God is sovereign. As believers, He will continue to use every part of our journey to mold us into the likeness of Christ.
Whether we choose to participate or not is up to us. We can lean on ourselves and struggle; praise Him in the storm and then jump out and tread water. Or we can trust Him with all of it knowing and believing in the hard that nothing we can do or mess up can change the battle He has already fought. Allow Him to love us in our mistakes and through our brokenness.
When we do this, we feel His Perfect Grace.