Trust in the Lord.

Trust is not something I have always easily offered.  Due to circumstances I have encountered, some occurring at a tender age, while others are still rapidly evolving, I learned quickly to build fortifications and to be cautious in where I place my confidence.  I swiftly became acquainted with the reality that even those that were provided to be steady sources of love and dependence break hearts, dash hopes, and renounce their roles.  A familiar theme is identified in selfish desires superseding virtuous responsibilities.  I could not tell you precisely when the numbing of my heart began, but can assume it embarked in my youngest of days.  As I grew, most commonly without conscious effort, this portion of my core only persisted to harden.  Life has demonstrated that these specific elements will prevail as a corrupted melody weaved throughout my existence.  Instead of terminating, they seem to continually develop, offering new twists, new challenges. 

I believe I was in my teenage years when I started understanding my inability to issue trust to another.  Instead of viewing it as a weakness, I defined it as a warranted approach.  After all, with what I had been dealt surely I deserved to protect what was left.  It was a poisonous perspective and I suffered great consequence because of the way I interacted.  I was not ignorant to the fact that these ramifications were being experienced because of my skeptical heart.  I knew exactly why they were being delivered, but I had lost desire to make alterations.  My involvement with mortality had convinced me that everyone would eventually shatter my supplied trust.  What I had failed to recognize was that my earthly experiences had habituated my heart so entirely that its incapability to apply trust surpassed my earthly relations and soared into my divine ones.  Indeed, I found that I did not offer nor display trust in my Father in Heaven.  I lacked faith in Him.  Who He is, what He is, and most importantly in His will and plan for me.  As I have worked to repair my immense imperfections, there is much I have been taught which has added intense power to my testimony.  My heart pounds to release it.

The law of sacrifice emerged with the beginning of time, alongside Adam and Eve.  The Lord commanded them to sacrifice, and they obediently did so.  This law has been preserved, and although our actions of sacrifice are unique regarding each dispensation, this commandment endures and is significantly important.  Only through experiences of sacrifice are we purified and become worthy to enter the presence of our Heavenly Father.  When we gain an understanding of the cruciality sacrifice plays in our entrance home, we find that we begin to seek after such opportunities, instead of evade them. 

There are a multitude of ways to offer sacrifice unto the Lord, some outlined, others personally established.  However, in my opinion, there is one act that perhaps stands as the greatest sacrifice we can offer: allowing the Lord’s will to be done.  I believe this to be so as it is truly the only thing we extend to our Heavenly Father that has not already been conferred by Him.  All else that we present was bestowed to us by and through His love.  Essentially we are giving back what He has already provided.  This is not to diminish the greatness of sacrificing things we have been donated, for it is acknowledged, accepted, and worthy to our Father.  But replacing our will with His, accepting His path for our lives instead of following our own designed route, allows us to freely give to Him, in a distinctly personalized manner.

What it means to accept the Lord’s will can be clarified through one of the dearest scriptures:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

What does it mean to accept the Lord’s will: It means to give our entire hearts to Him.  It involves looking to Him in all things, in all places, and in all circumstances.  Indeed, not one portion of our being exists without Him being the focal point.  The very beat of our heart bears testimony of Him because He is so much apart of who and what we are.  We love Him thoroughly, and desire to do all in order to demonstrate the love we carry.  How do we delight in Him in such a manner?  We come to know Him.  We study His life, His teachings, His ways.  We seek to align our actions with His commands, and labor to become as He is.  We develop a personalized relationship with Him.  This bond will be different than any other person, because it is yours.  Your own individualized attachment.  This is essential to create because once constructed we find that His will and our own will become more closely united, and following after becomes less complicated. 

Offering Him our hearts also signifies a complete absorption of faith.  Not even a section of our core produces doubt in Him, or in His pathways.  Acquiring such a fullness of hope takes time.  It does not have an express lane which leads to this destination at a more rapid pace, but requires diligent effort and experience.  Through prayer we can be released from our mortal weaknesses and find that our convictions overpower our uncertainties.  We simply believe in Him, in who He is, in what He is, and in His will. 

What does it mean to accept the Lord’s will: It means to not depend on our limited understanding.  It must be acknowledged that this type of sacrifice is not unchallenging.  In fact, at times it can be incredibly difficult.  It requires you to travel paths that may seem odd, miscalculated, or inequitable to earthly eyes.  It may request that you endure heartache, sorrow, or suffering.  Perhaps it necessitates loss of possessions, relationships, or comforts.  Whatever it entails, it is normally not the easiest route.  Maybe that is why we have a difficult time accepting His will over our own.  As humans we do not crave pain.  Misery is not sought after but is avoided.  Our paths may be created in a manner to offer protection from tribulation, where His may ask us to bear burdens.  He does this out of divine love, for our tests work as a refining fire. 

Due to these features, we must be attentive in looking to Him for understanding and not to lean on our own knowledge.  We have a finite comprehension of things, and frequently lose sight of an eternal perspective.  His ways will not always make logical sense from a mortal viewpoint.  This does not signify that they are flawed.  They are celestially perfect, in ways that we cannot grasp within this telestial sphere.  This is where having a heart consumed in faith adds strength.  We must be careful to not allow opinions of others to replace our confidence in Him.  No matter how learned, a man is only mortal, and God’s ways are not mans.  If you find that His pathways leave you frail, and you need somewhere to depend, make it Him.  His support will fortify you and His arms will carry you should your legs give way to the weight you bear. 

This should not create a belief that we will receive immediate understanding to our circumstances.  Not everything will make sense within an instant.  Some answers will come quickly, while others require time and demonstration of faith to be solved.  And it must be noted, that there will be some which will never arrive while we are here on this earth.  Instead, they will be revealed when we are at His side.  These situations can be more difficult to sustain because full illumination is never gained.  Our objective within these circumstances is to faithfully endure to the very end.  When we arrive home we have been promised that all that was withheld, all that was taken, all that was damaged, will be supplied.   And not just granted, but bestowed with magnificence.  The deepest desires of our hearts will be endowed.  Our souls can rejoice in this promise.  They can discover stability upon trembling ground.  Look brightly towards this day.     

Although the Lord’s paths may seem demanding, they are never oppressive.  His will never leads us into treacherous caverns or to dangerous stopping places.  Perhaps rocky at times, requesting exertion, they are engulfed in peace and a happiness that cannot be experienced along any other passageway.  We find that we flourish despite distressing conditions.  That we encounter enhancement of our souls despite burdensome circumstances.  We find love.  We find calmness.  We find joy.  Accepting His will allows blessing to pour from the heavens onto us.  But the responsibility rests in us to look around and recognize the beauty he is delivering.  

What does it mean to accept the Lord’s will: Most importantly, It means to trust in Him.  Trust.  That five letter word that at one spread fear from one end of my heart to the other.  We must trust Him.  Trust in His ways.  Trust in His love.  Trust in His will.  

Our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ are not mortal.  They do not exist, interact, provide, or love in an earthly manner.  They are perfect, in every single element.  We cannot allow those who have been careless with our trust, make us frightened of trusting in Him.  He will never let us down.  In fact, He will always, always be more than we hoped, dreamed, or desired.  He is greater than anything we can currently comprehend or remember.  Our trust is secure and protected with Him. 

When we accept His will it denotes having faith that the direction in which He is leading is safe and leads to promised lands.  I love to think about trusting Him in a more tangible manner.  Would I ever be apprehensive in trusting Him if He stood physically in front of me, beckoning me to follow His path?  Absolutely not.  Never.  I would run with speed that had certainly not left my body prior, just to be where He was.  Surely, I would do anything to follow Him.  Our circumstances are the same, with the only exception that His presence is experienced through a different sensation.  Not by sight, but by the perceptions of the heart.  He is here with us.  Our reactions to His will should not differ only because our veiled eyes cannot palpably perceive His attendance.   

The finest way to show the Lord our trust is to receive His paths willingly.  Engaging in them bitterly or delaying in aligning our will with His, illustrates lack of faith in Him.  This does not mean that we cannot be sorrowful, experience fatigue, or feel overwhelmed.  We are working towards perfection and still house weaknesses within our frame.  The Lord is aware of this and offers His ultimate strengths to uplift areas that are fragile.  

Our Savior stands as our exemplar.  As He experienced the torture of Gethsemane, He cried to His Father asking for His suffering to be removed, but ending His desperate plea declared for the Father’s will to replace His own.  As we strive to trust in the Lord with every inch of our hearts, we can follow His example and cry to our Heavenly Father when we seek for rescue, while still communicating, both by word and deed, that we desire His will to substitute our own.  When we do this we will find power will arrive at our sides.  Our burdens will be lightened, not taken, but lightened, by His hands until we can bear the full weight. 

If, like me, you have lost, forgotten, or were never taught how to trust, seek to revive it.  Create ways to remind yourself of the perfection of His trust.  For me, I plastered Proverbs 3:5 on the wall of my family room.  During darkened moments, or instances where I sense doubts arising, I sit in front of it and read it repeatedly.  It reminds me: 

Brynn, your ways are not His ways.  The way you think, is not the way He does.  The way you envision the future, is not an actuality, but a contrived hope from the heart.  His paths offer a future that is more grand than your mortal imagination can conjure.  The presence of tribulation does not denote breach of trust, but demonstrates His confidence in you.  Trust in it.  Trust in Him. 

Life is complex.  There are bumps, thorns, heartaches, and tears.  However, if endured faithfully, with a heart full of trust, it leads to perpetual joy.  If you take the time to look around, to see outside of your conditions, you will find that expansion accompanies the bumps, roses accompany the thorns, growth accompanies the heartache, and that His hand is there to wipe away every single tear that falls from your eye.  The eyes He created.  The eyes He loves.

Trust in the Lord.  With all your heart.  Trust in Him even when circumstances in life are not the way you want them to be, nor the way you envisioned or hoped for them to be.  Trust in Him even if someone else is allowed to experience something you crave, or others receive opportunities you hunger for.  Trust in Him even when the righteous blessings of your heart are not immediately provided, for in time they will be.  Do not permit earthly experiences to alter our faith in Him, nor diminish our trust.  If there is anyone to place our confidence in, it is Him.  You will never be let down,  only lifted upward.  Trust in Him.