Trust in God. When everything seems to be going wrong and you feel despair, choose to trust in God. When nothing’s working and you have no strength left simply tell Him, “I trust you”. Calm yourself in His presence and remember that He holds your “right now” and all of your moments to come. Come back to that place where you can be still and know that He is God.
How is trust formed? Not easily. It takes time and it takes trouble. And the greater the trouble that He brings you through the more your trust grows.
For most of us, we resist trouble. We look for ways around it instead of trusting that God will bring us through it. We stress and agonize over it. We worry ourselves to sickness trying to find solutions for it. But it is only in the midst of trouble that we can learn to fully depend on His strength and His grace to make it through the day.
James says that we should embrace trouble. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4) To James, the outcome was worth the trouble. The outcome was so worth it that he considered trouble to be an occasion for joy! James looked forward to becoming perfect and complete in his faith, worthy of the one who called him. And to get there he was able to face trouble with a positive outlook.
Being joyful in the midst of trouble is not natural. In fact, it is distinctly unnatural. It requires a conscious choice to focus on God and the goal rather than our circumstances and the moment. And once again, it comes back to trust. Can we trust that God is really here with us? Can we trust that He is big enough to carry us when we can’t seem to take another step? Can we trust that on the other side of this present trouble is an eternal reward and an end to all suffering?
It’s not easy. Without the Holy Spirit’s help it is in fact impossible. But Jesus knows our weaknesses and he has suffered all things so that we can be sure that we have a heavenly father who really understands us and knows our grief and sorrow intimately. Trust in Him. Only trust in Him.