Category: trust

Experience: The Act of Directly Perceiving Reality {Intuition Diaries}

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 paths.
(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV)



Our anchor still holds.
Experience tells us that we can trust certain things to be true. After the sunset at Sylvan Beach, we decided to stay anchored to the sandy bottom of the lake, while the other boats, one by one left for their home ports. We heard thunder and saw the lightening in the distant sky, yet we decided to weather the storm while anchored out. 

I went to bed uneasy about the anchor. Would it keep us in our spot? Even though experience has proven over and over that being moored to an anchor is safe. (We also have an anchor alarm, if we do start to drift.) But neither experience nor the alarm kept me from waking in the middle of the night wondering if we had drifted out to the middle of the lake or inched toward the shore.
The storm passed us by, leaving a gentle rain pattering on our boat off and on all night. In the morning, we woke up in the spot, which we anchored at the night before. Experience proved true. 

I would think by know I would trust the anchor, but each time I have to experience its security before I praise its abilities.

Not unlike my trust relationship with God. I know He is good, faithful, loving, just and holy—but I have to experience His goodness, faithfulness, love, etc to affirm my faith over and over again. And each time that I trust and acknowledge Him, my faith deepens and His character remains trustworthy.

Experience secures my heart to the LORD, whom I trust.
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Confidence: A Relation of Trust or Intimacy {Where I Reveal My Dream Come True}

 
But know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
(Psalm 4:3 NRSV)




When I was a teenager, during a youth retreat we were encouraged to choose a name that would describe who we wanted to become. I chose the word, “confidence.” I drew a key and wrote the word across it. Probably the first time I ever used a concordance to look up Scriptures. Under the listing, I remember reading: “The LORD is my confidence.” (Proverbs 3:26a)

At that retreat was one of the first times I asked God for something for myself. I wanted Him to be my confidence, but also to make me more confident.

For many years I have been growing into that name. As I  was getting ready for a new venture today, God reminded me of that act of faith so many years ago. Back in May, through a series of God events, I took a step towards fulfilling a dream. This dream came to life today! I am calling this dream:

 
 
 
(Logo design created by Jessie Flori)


Souldare will be a place where people gather together to discover their created self through journaling, collage art and eventually, nature hikes accompanied by times of contemplative prayer.

What does this post have to do with my recent series on prayer? God hears when we call to him. And sometimes, the answer is revealed in stages, over the years. And sometimes, He uses that very request to increase our faith and confidence.

When I look at the word confidence, I think “with faith” or “with fidelity,” which when applied to my life humbles me. To think that God would call me one of his faithful ones exalts his faithfulness. It indicates a depth of intimacy with God that has grown sweeter over the years.

What a joy it was today to witness others exploring and discovering their created selves through collage art and journaling. God was in our midst. I can’t wait until next week to see how God reveals himself to us again.

 


A poem I read before I left to facilitate the workshop became another prayer for confidence:

Where fear imprisons, faith liberates;
Where fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Where fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Where fear sickens, faith heals;
Where fear makes useless, faith makes beautiful;
Where fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life,
faith opens the windows on a new world,
a new life that knows no end.
(Father Philip Chester, as qtd by Jonathan Aitken in Prayers for People Under Pressure)



 

How is faith enabling you to overcome fears?What long forgotten request
is God answering today?

 
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Faith: Firm Belief; Complete Trust

 
 Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. It was this kind of faith that won their reputation for the saints of old. And it is after all only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command—that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible.
(Hebrews 11:1-3 J.B. Phillips)
 
 
 
 
 
Finding
Affirmation of the
Invisible by
Trusting Jesus
Hourly.
 
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Prayer for a Winter Day

 
 
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
(Psalm 42:1-2 ESV)
 
 
Lord of life and love, help us to worship thee in the holiness of beauty, that some beauty of holiness appear in us. Quiet our souls in thy presence with the stillness of a wise trust. Lift us above dark moods, and the shadow of sin, that we may find thy will for our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(From the Book of Worship)



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Light: Something that Makes Vision Possible

 
Blessed are those who
have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light
of your presence, O Lord.
Psalm 89:15 NIV

I like Mondays. On Mondays, I observe a day of rest. I call it my extra Sabbath. On Sundays, my husband and I serve and worship at our church. And I often take a nap in the afternoon.

But resting on Mondays is different. I don’t schedule any outside appointments. I don’t have to rush anywhere. I can linger with my coffee. I let go of agendas and I do my best to listen. There is no hurry to leave the presence of God. I read, journal, listen and pray to my heart’s content.
 
This particular Monday, I am enjoying time on our porch swing on a warm, balmy winter day. The sun is shining, the birds are calling each other with warbles and whistles and chirps and trills.
 
Sometimes, I go back and read over my journal to gain insight. To see what light has been poured out through my pen. I notice what God and I have been dialoguing over the past several weeks. Since I had the leisure to do so today, I thumbed through my journal, highlighting the glimpses of a theme or a direction. Path, desire and want were common words. Also hope, blessing and love. Here are some quotes and musings that resonated with me today. I hope they are a sweet balm of warmth on this wintry Monday.

“As wonderful as it is to have Jesus’ blessings,
it is even more wonderful to have Jesus.”
(Roy Lessin)
 
 
 
“O LORD, the house of my soul is narrow; enlarge it that Thou mayest enter in. It is ruinous, O repair it! It displeases Thy sight; I confess it, I know. But who shall  cleanse it, or to whom shall I cry but unto Thee? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O LORD,
spare Thy servant from strange sins.”
(St. Augustine)
 
 
“To have someone to absorb us, who wants to understand the shape and structure of our lives, who will listen for more than our words,
is one of friendship’s greatest gifts.”
(Paul D. Robbins)
 
 
Below is a written prayer that I copied down today, and my response to that prayer:
 
“Almighty God, whose word is authority and power and whose way is love, grant us today clear minds, understanding hearts, and willing spirits so that we may wisely appropriate Your word of truth. Amen.”
 
 
My response:
 
“Let us not try to change each other, but rather trust each other. Trust ourselves. Accept that each other’s personalities, skills, gifts and life experiences inform the whole of who we are and how we interact with one another. Let us love one another.”


Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. 
(1 John 5:21 NLT)
 
 
 


 

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