October 16
Beloved of Good Shepherd Church,
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
Trust is everything. When I trust God I find the most remarkable things happen.
My friend and colleague, Patty Webb, teaches our Good Shepherd children the stories of our faith. She employs a strikingly graceful approach she describes as “focusing solely on God’s goodness when sharing Bible stories with preschool-age children or children of any age who are new to God and the Bible.” Patty continues describing her method in this way, “With God’s goodness as the foundation of every Bible story, young children learn that God is trustworthy.” Trust is everything. I have found over my years of journeying with Jesus that when I trust, time and time again, my eyes are opened to see and feel God’s benevolent presence accompanying me in good times and in bad times.
Building on her pedagogy of trust, Patty has given us what I consider to be a perfect articulation of our focus and goal with children of all ages at Good Shepherd Church and School in this statement. “If we can teach our children that God dwells within them and loves them endlessly, then they will be rooted and grounded in love for life.” When one is rooted and grounded in love, trust emerges as a pure gift from God. Because I am growing in the soil of God’s love I have an ever-increasing trust that God will be with me through thick and thin and will make my life a landscape of peace, happiness, and joy no matter the exterior circumstances.
Some of you have heard my “Let John be John” story. Many years ago, “John” caused a great deal of difficulty to arise in my life and the lives of some of my friends. I remember feeling very sad and troubled by his behavior. In an anxious fit of desperation I exclaimed to my friend, Walter, “What are we going to do about John?!” With extraordinary gentleness and grace, Walter looked at me lovingly, smiled and said, “We’re going to let John be John.” We did, and John and I eventually repaired our relationship. I love him very much today, and he loves me. Fast forward many years from that time. I was going through a very difficult challenge that had me deflated and not sure which way to go. My prayer was, “God I trust you to carry me through this showing me what to do with each next step. I will trust you to be with me. Amen.” Right in the middle of the hardest part of the turmoil…John called. I hadn’t talked to him in several years. He had no idea what was going on with me. He said, “I just called to check on you.”
I was blown away. John’s call didn’t solve my problem, but it gave me the most marvelous sense that God is with me and that the spiritual practice of trust yields mysterious, grace-soaked results. I was also reminded that love heals. John was once my tormenter, now he is my comforter. Trust is everything.
What role does trusting God play in your life? Do you, like me, often cart off to the past or the future in a worrisome way? What would it look like for you to sit still in the present? Don’t resist the discomfort, rather breathe and trust that God is with you and will help you do the next right thing?
Remember this always - God loves you, and I love you too!
Love is all,
Hendree+