What If You Chose to Trust His Love?

Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 22, 2018

By Shana Schutte

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love.  Zephaniah 3:17

In 2005, I moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to work with Focus on the Family as a writer and editor. Then, a little over six years later, through a series of unexpected circumstances, the Lord led me to leave the beautiful mountains. Even though I obeyed willingly, I didn’t really want to go. The beauty of nature was my prayer closet.

After moving, some great things happened in my life: I married a wonderful man, relocated to an adorable little town in Illinois, and became a grandmother to a gorgeous baby boy. But in all these years, I have still longed to relocate back to the mountains.

I have also been working feverishly, sometimes staying up all night to finish projects. I wrote a few new books, just a few devotionals for Wisdom Hunters, and I launched a new organization to help Christian singles over 30. These are all great endeavors, but since leaving Colorado, I haven’t been working in peace. To be honest, many days I have felt panicky and anxious (which has been a burden) as I have been striving to make things work out the way I’d like them to. I haven’t been able to understand the root cause of my anxiousness until the Lord revealed the condition of my heart to me.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. . .” (John 16:13).

As I knelt on the floor to pray, He pointed to the disappointment I felt about leaving Colorado. I felt He took me from there—and that hurt a lot. It was the only place in 25 years, after moving out of my childhood home, that felt like home.  When that happened, disappointment lodged in my heart and I felt God had hurt me. As a result, I didn’t feel He could be entirely trusted. And, because I have grown tired of change over the years, I have been working like crazy to protect myself and guarantee that my future turns out the way I want so that I never have to go through disappointment like that again.  

I sensed Him saying to me, “Shana, you can work in peace, or you can work in torment.” Meaning, “If you choose to trust Me with your future, you can work in peace, but if you don’t trust Me and want to lean on your own strength, you will experience panic.”  

It all made sense. Disappointment led to a lack of trust in God’s love which lead to striving and anxiousness and working like a dog to arrange my future so I don’t experience disappointment like that again.  

I know it sounds crazy. We can’t secure our futures. God is God and we are not. But that’s the power of disappointment and fear. It will drive us to behave in ways we normally wouldn’t.

After this encounter with the Lord, I asked myself, “What would happen if I really decided to fully trust the Lord again? What would happen if I decided to lay down control and let Him lead me once more?”

Now, I am choosing to trust Jesus each day with an unknown future. I have decided to let go of the mountains I love to let Him lead me and my husband where He will. I choose trust and peace over control and panic.

Do you need to choose to trust Jesus once more? He is waiting with arms open wide.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

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