Trust

Mama Said

Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG

Deuteronomy 31:8 ESV

When I was younger I was a bit confused about the practicality of Proverbs 3:5-6. I didn’t know it at the time because when you’re young you don’t know what you don’t know.

Later in life I had the great opportunity to sit with a true Spiritual Director. He was a very wise Catholic Priest who helped me to understand how to really connect and better understand God.

Proverbs 3:5-6, tells us,“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”

My dear mentor taught me about the silence of God.

Week after week as I sat with him and asked questions he would ask me questions that helped me to learn the meaning…my meaning of enlightenment.

I admit at first I did not want to learn what enlightenment meant to me. I wanted him to give me the answers. He knew the true way to enlightenment was found in myself and God. I needed to learn my way with God.

See, God is personal.

God loves each of us for who we are and who we will be.

Once I found it I felt a little silly. It’s different for every person so the best clue I can give is the way I feel when one of my kids or grandkids unexpectedly shows up. They are my people…my comfort zone.

Even though it’s not exactly the same, God is mine and I am God’s. I am a child of God. Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

I know without doubt God will not fail me or leave me. When I was young I was pretty sure about that because my dad told me it was truer than true. He told me scripture was truth and didn’t lie. I learned from him that scripture is the one book I can rely on all the time because it was God’s Holy Word. It’s alive and God speaks through the Word.

At the time he told me that I wondered how he knew it. As I grew older and I started relying on scripture to help me navigate life I found out for myself that I could rely on the Word of God as being God’s Word from God. The Holy Spirit ascended on me when I invited the Spirit in and when I read scripture the Spirit was and is in me. All of those realizations came about because in time as I practiced reading and listening, I knew God was with me.

I knew God would never forsake me. But that realization wasn’t instant.

I’m old enough to remember fizzies. It was a tablet about the size of an Alka Seltzer but it was flavored…like cherry or strawberry.

Fizzies were a tablet we could drop into cold water and we had instant cherry or strawberry soda pop. It was a real treat! We didn’t get a fizzie every day but when we did get a fizzie at home during the week if was a good day. It was instant because we didn’t have to get in the car and drive downtown to the store to get it (I know now that sounds weird).

Having the Holy Spirit with me whenever I wanted God was even better! There’s nothing else that compares to having the presence of God in me all the time. God protects and defends 24/7.

God is always there giving peace and all of the fruit of the Spirit.

It’s quite unlike anything else on earth!

Deborah/acrazyjourney.com