Trust more and Worry Less

Oct 15

Do you have trust issues? I do. I have a hard time trusting anyone to load the dishwasher correctly. I have that level of trust issues! As part of the Wise Souls Circle this term, we’ve been considering our ability to trust God in these turbulent times. I’m not doing so well. How about you?

Maybe you are adept at turning things over to God, but then you tend to grab them back again. This is so me.
Maybe your image of God has changed so much since your childhood that you’re not even sure who you are praying to when you pray, or who or what you are trying to trust.
Maybe all the Christian Nationalism memes portraying a Warrior Jesus have you questioning everything you’ve ever heard about Jesus. Fact Check: There is nothing Christian about Christian Nationalism.
Maybe you’ve thrown in the towel and left all that God talk behind.

I invite you to pause, take a deep breath and keep reading. You may find a nugget or two here that is worth keeping.

What resistance arises for you when I propose that trusting God more is the way to equanimity?

What happens inside when I suggest to you that if you just trusted God more… all your problems would disappear… or you would get that job promotion… or your favorite candidate will win, or…?

Here are a couple of thoughts that come up when I think about trusting God:

I keep hearing a voice reading aloud the Bible verse warning to “lean not on your own understanding” and then I protest that God gave me a brain to use. Shouldn’t I use it?

To grow in the ability to trust God, online ministers urge us to study the Bible more to know the mind of God and be able to rely on that instead of worldly wisdom. But, I really struggle with many verses of the Bible because 2000 years of patriarchal writing and interpretation just doesn't sit well with me.

And trusting an external source, instead of myself, feels a little like being a dependent child. It feels like I’m giving my power away and that makes me cringe.

So I get it! Trusting so hard!!

Trusting is hard because it requires our egos to give up the illusion of control. Control is an illusion. We actually have no control over 99.89% of the stuff we worry about.
Trusting is hard because we weren’t conditioned to trust others. We live in an individualistic culture that prioritizes personal productivity. We are urged to do more, to take more action, to earn our keep. To rest is a radical act and hard to do when some inner voice is yelling that we are lazy-good-for-nothings. So, to allow others to take the reins feels counter-productive.
Trusting is hard because it feels like we are being too passive when clearly there is work to be done and it feels like we are giving our power away.
Trusting is hard because it is challenging to know what is ours to do when (see above) there is so much work to be done. The voice of the soul is so much quieter that all the loud voices that demand our attention. It’s tough to know which voice to listen to.

Having acknowledged all that, here is my radical proposal: Trusting God is the only viable option!

We are not in control of the world, nor how long we will be here. We only control how we respond. So lay your need to control all the things down.
To choose not to trust God and allow your ego to attempt to wrestle back control is an exercise in frustration and futility. The ego plays by different rules than God does, and see the world through a scarcity mindset rather than through the unlimited abundance of God.
To choose not to trust God is destabilizing. When we step out of alignment with the Divine and let the ego drive, we lose our inner peace. This is probably the most compelling reason for me. Grounding yourself in a daily connection with God is the best way to stay at peace and in alignment. It’s like holding onto the center post of a carousel while the centrifugal forces of life keep trying to pull you off center. God is solid ground.

Only from our True Self, the place where God resides within us, can we shift our world from shadow into light. With Divine assistance, we can add light energy to the world through kindness, compassion, and praying for your enemies, rather than adding shadow energy to the world by criticizing, judging, or hating your enemies.

Divine love drives out fear. Love is the only force stronger than fear. Become a vessel for God’s abundant love to flow through you and out into the world. Co-create with God knowing that the effort you make is the vessel God will fill. You are not in this alone.

Trusting God requires you to trust that small voice within you.

But how do you know whether what you “know” is from God?

Let me know in the comments how you know! Here are a few signs for you:

— Your knowing lands peacefully in your soul.

— Your knowing is “live-giving” and not destructive or hateful.

— St. Ignatius offers this helpful analogy: You knowing is from God when it feels soft like water dripping on a wet sponge versus loud and clanging like water splatting on a dry rock.

— Your knowing leads to a sense of being in peaceful alignment.

How can you deepen your trust in God?

Begin by getting to know the one we are called to trust. These steps may help you learn more about the kind of god God is:

— Lean heavily on your own past experiences of God.

— Savor your past consolations. Remembering how God showed up for you before gives you comfort that God will show up for you again.

— The more you experience God’s loving provision, the more easily you can trust that God is on your side.

— As your trust grows, you begin to realize that you are fully resourced: God is your abundant source for all good. God gives you your conscience, the voice of your soul, and the grace to act from a place of love.

Some Practices

I invite you to journal about all the attributes of God you believe to be true. You get extra points for examples in your own life or those around you — this is your inner authority. Trust it.

Pay attention to and collect passages from external sources that strongly resonate with you. We can be guided by the experiences of others, but only if their words land gently in your soul. Some sources include Bible stories that ring true for you or lovely poetry that you have found moving. Here’s a story that may be familiar on trusting more and worrying less:

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them” (Luke 12:24).

Celtic Spiritual scholar, Kenneth McIntosh in “Water from an Ancient Well,” explains how this parable applies to us:

“If God provides for the ravens, He will surely provide all things for us—so we need not covet and grasp, but can freely share God’s bounty with others. And if we have no worries for our own well-being, can we not … offer mercy to all?”

I find a measure of comfort in that explanation, nudging me to release my grasp on all my worries, and rest in God. It is only from this place of trusting in God’s abundant provision, that I can be a conduit for bringing Divine love to those in my midst. When I feel like there is enough love for me, I can share it with the world.

Try these suggestions for trusting more and worrying less, and let me know if you feel any inner shift. See if they help you maintain your sense of equanimity.

Below is one of my favorite prayers by Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. It helps me to trust that God is guiding me though I may not always be able to feel it.

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain
where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and that I think I am following your will does not mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe
the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire
in all I am doing.
I hope
I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.