To Love is to Trust

     I remember waiting in a waiting room at a hospital when I heard a very disturbing conversation. I was waiting in line at the information desk when the volunteer behind the desk starting speaking to a man waiting in line. It was a conversation that was painful to hear and one I would like to forget but probably never will. The woman was close to sixty. She told the man in line that as far as she was concerned she no longer had a son. She didn’t talk to her son anymore and she liked it that way. She never wants to see or talk to him again. She said she was happy to have him out of her life. I understand that her son may have done some stupid things or hurt her greatly, but she had no remorse in her words. Many people shut down relationships when they become hurt. They not only shut down relationships, they close off other ones. When some people get hurt in a marriage, they refuse to ever marry again. When some employees get hurt at work, they shut down and adopt the “I will do my job and nothing else” mentality and never invest themselves again in their job or coworkers. Some people get hurt by friends and build walls around themselves to never get close to another person again. Some people become estranged with their entire family because they feel like the black sheep. When I see people block love from flowing into their lives, it breaks my heart. Now, I realize that I am in love with love! However, I am not the only one. God thinks love is the greatest too! When we shut down our emotions in order to never experience hurt again, we are taking control of our lives and not trusting God. I learned a lesson many years ago about how everything that happens to us has been filtered through the fingers of God. That word picture has brought me much comfort. When I am going through a trial, or a test, or heartbreak, or a valley, or discipline, or a time of joy, or a mountain top experience, or a transition to a new phase of life; God has allowed it in my life for a purpose. It teaches me, grows me, develops me and molds me. I can trust His sovereignty because His sovereignty is ruled by love, not evil. Because God is love, everything that is of God is love, including His sovereignty. Once I accept that fact, I can always trust Him. If a person hurts me, God will provide me the grace to endure. It will teach me something about obedience, or forgiveness, or of God’s comfort; or it will mold me for the things that is to come in my life. It will never be wasted. If I close off relationships in my life, not only do I miss out on the blessing of love, I miss out on the spiritual growth that trusting God brings.
     How open is your heart towards love? Has hurt built walls of protection in you? People will always disappoint you, they are not perfect and sin prevails upon this earth. However, can you trust the protection of your heart to God? Will you accept that whatever comes into your life has been filtered through God’s fingers of love? It is not about trusting people, it is about trusting God!

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
Jeremiah 29:11

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13