More Lessons from Trinidad

God has been working in my heart and mind for a few months over some trust issues I've had with Him.  Growing up in church I was fairly isolated and insulated from much of the "bad" of the world and never realized how easy I had it.  I never expected life to get hard.  But I grew up, and it did.

I never expected to miscarry my first pregnancy not long after getting a positive test result, but I did.  I didn't expect to go through that 2 more times over the upcoming years, but I did.  I didn't expect to move to Mississippi in the summer of 2005, only to have a year of total upheaval due to a little hurricane otherwise known as Katrina.  And I didn't expect to have my oldest child get diagnosed on the autism spectrum, but again, that's my life.

So, to say I had trust issues with God is a slight understatement.  Don't get me wrong, I trusted God would do what He needed to do.  I trusted it would be for His glory.  I trusted He was in control.  But I was also terrified because I feared what He might do or allow next.  Each of these things had hurt, and God NEVER promises the Christian an easy life.  I worried about what was coming next... I was fearful!

Enter the VBS theme for this year..."Trust God!"

• No matter who you are...Trust God!
• No matter how you feel...Trust God!
• No matter what others do...Trust God!
• No matter what happens...Trust God!
• No matter where you are...Trust God!

These were our daily themes.  Every day in Trinidad, God showed me that there were going to be times when trusting Him may not come naturally or even seem relevant, but I would need to CHOOSE to trust Him.

For example, the first night when we were exhausted and Ben was becoming increasingly miserable on the twisty bus ride, I had to calm my mind by praying and telling God I was choosing to trust Him in this circumstance.  It seems minor in retrospect, but in the moment it felt big.  Plus God wants us to learn to trust Him in every situation - the little along with the big.  I tend to do better with the big stuff and get more irritable over the little stuff.  As I wrote in my journal the next morning, "The long day of travel is not what I would choose, but every step of the way I need to choose to trust."

God also showed that He has an amazing way of weaving things together.  We spent that first day in camp preparing for when the campers would arrive, including decorating the meeting room, where we would also have church the following morning with 4 local congregations.  What we did not know, and only God could possibly orchestrate was the topic of the sermon.   We explored the story of Joseph and how he trusted God through every circumstance of his life.  So, as we listened to the wonderful sermon prepared by an elder of a local church, we got to see all of our weekly themes posted on the wall behind him.  

My favorite quote from the sermon was "Joseph trusted God no matter how bad the situation got.  Can you say 'no matter what happens, I will trust God'?"

Today, I leave you with two pictures of our family after the church service - we have the good picture (including one of the daily themes in the back ground)...

And the silly one!