How To Face Uncertainty By Receiving The Promise That God Is With Me?

1. Passive or active receiving

I read an article by Jeremy Caris explaining that in the Bible there are two different words for receive. It can be passive receiving (dechomai) or active receiving (lambano).  Jeremy explains the difference between these two types of receiving - If someone threw a glass of cold water on you on a hot day, you would (dechomai) the water, welcoming and accepting it without having to do anything. However, if someone handed  you a glass of cold water, making it available, and you then take it into your possession, you would (lambano) the water. Either way, you received it. Through this illustration, you can see why lambano is translated “take” as often as it is translated “receive.” Mark 11:24 ESV says, “ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received [lambano] it, and it will be yours.”

I agree with Jeremy that we need to lambano more as we believe in the promises of God and make them real in our lives. In Matthew 11:12 NIV Jesus told us, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” We need to be forceful (lambano) and not passive (dechomai) when it comes to receiving the promises of God for our lives.

2. How do we forcefully receive?

Let us see how we can forcefully receive (lambano) the promises of God for our lives? Take God’s promise from Hebrews 13:5 ESV as an example. It says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” How then do we apply this promise to an uncertainty which  we are about to face, say, a surgical procedure, a fearful event or a job interview? We will illustrate by taking the last situation – how do we forcefully receive God’s promise to be with us as we go for a job interview?

We actively receive this promise of God’s presence by:-

A. Aggressive believing

Believing starts in our thought life. What is inside us affects what is outside us. When we believe that God gave us this job interview, it is no longer about whether we get the job. It is about believing that God is with us and will use this interview to further His purpose in our lives. If God gave us the interview, He will supply His resources to see us through the interview. Therefore it is not about what the result of our interview will be but about what our journey of faith with God will be like. We shift from being result oriented to God oriented.

B. Speaking the words of faith
Tell others that we believe God is with us and that He has arranged this job interview for us. The power of the tongue has life and when we love to speak life, we will eat the fruit of life (Proverbs 18:21). This life is called “zoe” life, God’s kind of life. His refreshing breath is in you. He breathed His breath into you while you were formed in your mother’s womb. When you speak according to His truths in the Bible, your words become spirit and life to yourself and others (John 6:63)

However, as you lived in the world, it breathes into you its bad breath. Don’t be filled with the world’s thinking and be full of bad breath. More often than not, we speak of our slim chance of getting the job; that many have tried but the success rate is low. We go on speaking such negative words without realising that as we hear our own voice speaking, we are speaking death into our souls. Death in the Bible does not only refer to physical death (a physical separation from our earthly relationships). Death in the Bible often refers to being separated from the life of God (connection with God) due to futile thinking characterised by unbelief and not understanding the ways of God (Ephesians 4:17-18).

Therefore, speak life into your uncertainty. You use the same number of words whether you speak positively or negatively. But the result (fruit) of those words are either life or death. Since you will be speaking the same number of words and the result is going to be different, you might as well speak the words of God into your uncertainty.

C. Act on our faith.
When we act on our faith, we prepare ourselves for the job interview. We read up on the company through the print media (newspapers, business journals, annual reports), search the internet for news and announcements about the company and their key executives etc.

Some of you may think that these actions are human efforts and should be avoided since all we need to do is trust God for the interview. However, such thinking is actually not Biblical. Instead, Biblical thinking requires us to prepare for the event God has arranged for us to go through the event with Him. Note that the event is for Him and not for us because it is all about God and not about us.

These three steps can be seen in the life of Joshua. When Joshua was asked by God to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land (Joshua 1:1-11), God prepared him by working on his inner thought life (verses 1-9). Once His inner thoughts were strengthened through forceful believing, Joshua spoke the words of faith and acted on his faith by ordering his officers to get ready the supplies as they were going to occupy the Land promised by God; they were about to possess the promise of God.

When we forcefully act on our belief in God, our action becomes a habit which forms our character ushering us towards our destiny in Christ. Most people say “seeing is believing”. I say “No”. The Biblical view is “believing is seeing” ( John 11: 40).

God Of No Options

1. When you have no options

How will you respond when your doctor tells you that although he has tried the entire range of treatment for your cancer, your body is still not responding and the cancer markers keep climbing?  He tells you that he has done all he can possibly do and now will stop all further treatment. Will you give up now and wait for death to knock? That will not be how a believer should respond.

2. God only has one way

I learned recently that we have a God of no options. Men (including your doctor) like to have many options to choose from. That gives them more chances of success. They think like this because they are relying on themselves for successful outcomes. Therefore, they cannot have dead ends. They need more options as the more they have, the greater their chances of success.

But God doesn’t need options. He only has one way and that is His way which always results in godly success. He only has one choice for you and will work it out in spite of the choices you or others make. That’s why He is God and you are not. God will direct events in your life so that His plans for you will always be fulfilled.

3. You live on borrowed strength

As you walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), you learn to rely less on human effort and lean entirely on God. Instead of wearying yourself by trying options after options, you only need to rest in Christ”s love for you to see you through.

He said in Matthew 11:28-30 to go to Him when you are weary and He will give you His strength as you yoke yourself to Him. The picture is that of a young ox(you) being yoked with an experienced ox(Christ) which provides the direction for the ploughing and the strength to do it. You live on borrowed strength and Christ directs your path. You need not lean on your own understanding but only trust in your God (Proverbs 3:5-6).

4. Your beginning and your end

Christ knew you before you were born and will see you to the end. He was there at your beginning when you took your first breath and He will be there at the end when you take your last breath. That is what He meant when He said that He is The Alpha and Omega; the Beginning and the End (Revelation 21:6); the First and the Last (Revelation 1:17). You are highly favoured and deeply loved by your Heavenly Father. When you don’t have any options, you discover once again a God who is your best option. God will make a waywhere there seems to be no way.

Silence Of God

1.         God is not with us?

There are times when we feel that God is not with us at all.  The problems in our work pile up.  The relationships we have seem to get increasingly difficult.  The aches and pains in our body do not go away despite us taking the medicine and undergoing medical treatment.  It’s times like these when we cry to God.  Yet when we cry out, He doesn’t seem to listen.

2.         Be honest with God about your feelings

That’s also the experience of the psalmist in Psalm 13.  He cried out to God “How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me? (verse 1).  Like the psalmist, you too should be honest with God about your feelings.  After all, God already knows how you feel.  But you need to pour out your thoughts to Him.  Like the psalmist, you “wrestle with your thoughts” and have “sorrow in your heart”.  Worse still, the people who accuse you; who are giving you a hard time seem to gloat over their belief that they have “triumph over you” (verse 2).

3.         It’s not blasphemy

A man once asked me, “If I pour out my angry thoughts to God, is that blasphemy?”  I told him, “The psalmists often vent their anger before the Lord.  That’s not blasphemy.  That’s honesty.  God is bigger than that.  He is not ultra sensitive like us humans.  In fact, I believe He wants us to be angry before Him than to be angry with others.

Like the psalmist, you feel that life is unfair and God doesn’t seem to do much about it.  In that case, tell Him how you feel.  In verses 3 & 4, the psalmist tells God, “Don’t let my enemies say, “We have defeated him”.  “Don’t let them gloat over my downfall.  Look at me, O Lord my God and answer me.  Restore my strength; don’t let me die”.

4.         God loves you and is good to you

After pouring out your troubles before God, something strange happens within you.  As you pour out your feelings before God, His Holy Spirit removes your inner blockages of anger, hurt, worry, disappointments and helps you to see beyond your immediate troubles.  Like the psalmist, you will begin to say to God after you have been honest with Him, “I rely on your constant love.  I will be glad because you will rescue me”.

No longer will I merely complain.  Instead, “I will sing to you, O Lord because ( God) have been good to me”. (verses 5 & 6).  When you can see that God loves you and is good to you, you can trust in Him.  Ultimately, your journey on earth is about  God teaching you to trust in Him.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Never rely on what you think you know.  Remember the Lord in everything you do, and He will show you the right way” (Proverbs 3:5-6, Good News Bible)

Trusting God For Your Loved Ones

1.         ‘Helicopter’ parents

We care about those we love.  They can be your parents, siblings, spouse, children, friends, etc.  We are concerned for them and like to know that all will be well with them.  For those of you who are parents, your concern for your children is natural; especially when they are young.  But sometimes, you can go to extremes and become ‘helicopter’ parents.  You hover around them, anticipate their every need and practically live to serve them.

2.         Rebekah the ‘helicopter’ parent

The Bible records the story of a ‘helicopter’ parent called Rebekah.  She was the wife of Isaac, the only son of Abraham. She gave birth to twins; Esau and Jacob.  Isaac loved Esau but Rebekah loved Jacob.  Being aware that the blessings of Abraham had been passed on to her husband Isaac, she wanted to ensure that Isaac in turn will pass on the same blessing to Jacob, the younger twin.

3.         God has a plan

According to tradition, Esau being the eldest son should have the blessing.  However, God has a different plan for Esau.  God’s plan was for the blessing to be passed on to Jacob (Genesis 25:23).

When Isaac was old and could no longer see, he wanted to pass on his blessing to Esau.  However, Rebekah knew of his intention and worked out a plan together with Jacob to deceive Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of Esau (Genesis 27).  This deception led to much heartache and to Jacob fleeing from the family to escape the anger of Esau.

4.         Trust God for our children

The lessons we can learn from Rebekah is that we must trust God for our children.  He has a plan for each child and will work it out His way and not our way (Jeremiah 29:11).  We do not need to use our own way to work it out.  When we do it our way, we may end up worse off; like the case of Jacob who had to flee from the family.

If you are a parent, learn not to be a ‘helicopter’ parent.  Don’t hover over your children.  Walk beside them to guide them.  Let them learn to choose (so long as their choices are not illegal, immoral).  Then stand by them as they work out their choices.

5.         Let go of your children

As parents, it’s so hard to let go of the child you love.  Even though they have grown up, they are,  still in your minds, the babies you carried.  But God has a plan for each of them.  We need to let go and let God take over.  He can do a better job.  He has better resources.  And He can work with them to the end.

Trust God for your loved ones.  That’s the will of God.

Will Power vs Yield Power

1.         Thy will be done

My Christian friend was sharing with me how close his wife came to death.  She was undergoing cancer treatment when the doctor assessed that she did not have long to live.  They moved her into the intensive care unit and restricted the number of persons that could go in to visit her.  As he prayed to God, he said that he would submit to God and let Him have His way in the situation.  No longer was he going to use his own prayer power to ‘will’ healing into his wife’s body.  He surrendered his will and said to God, “Not my will but thy will be done”.

2. Yield power

Soon after and much to his surprise, his wife’s condition improved and she left the hospital.  It had been a few years since this miracle happened.  My Christian friend realized that it was not ‘will’ power that brought about the miracle.  Instead it was ‘yield’ power; his submission to God that enabled him to see the grace of God in his life.

This situation does not mean that whenever you yield to God, you will get what you want.  If that is so, then it’s not yielding to God but manipulating God.  Instead, the way of a Christian is to submit to God and trust Him in all that happens because God is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:68).

3.         Moving away from God

The problem with us is the same problem with Adam and Eve.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve was not willing to trust in what God told them.  God said to them, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

They were not willing to yield their will to God and do what He said.  When they chose their own will, they moved away from God and sin entered their lives.  When you choose to do your own will, then you too will move away from God.  Your will power moves you to be independent of God.  You begin to think that you know how to handle the problems in your life without God. Only when you find the problems so overwhelming will you return to God, yield to Him and let Him have His way in your situation.

4.         How should we live?

Jesus came to show us how we should live while on earth.  He said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of Him who sent me” (John 6:38).  The pattern of living Jesus shows us is one of a surrendered life.  When we trust God enough to yield to Him in every situation and say to Him “Father, I yield to you.  Have your own way in the situation I am facing.  Whatever is the outcome, I know I am in your good and loving hands.  Please direct the situation as you deem fit”.  When we pray such a submissive prayer, we have learned the secret of ‘yield’ power and find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29).

Blessings & Curses

 

1.         No curses from the spiritual realm

Whenever we talk of curses, we associate them with black magic, witch craft and evil spiritual forces.  These curses which are spoken seemed to have such damaging effect over those upon whom the curses fall.  But as Christians, we are not people who can be cursed.  No one can curse those whom God has not cursed (Numbers 23:8).  We are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16).  The Holy Spirit in us is greater and stronger than Satan (1 John 4:4).  There is no way a Christian can be attacked by curses that come from the spiritual realm.

2.         God will bless you even though someone curses you

The Bible does not only talk about curses from the spiritual realm.  The word curse in the Bible means “to make light of”.  When you make light of someone; when you speak badly of them; you are cursing them.  But when you bless which in Biblical terms mean “to praise, to salute”, you have a good opinion of the person.  The Bible assures us that even when someone looks down upon us, curses us behind our back or even into our faces, God will nullify their curses.  In Psalm 109:28, David said, “They may curse but you (God) will bless”.

David knew this truth.  In 2 Samuel 16, we read of David having to leave Jerusalem due to the revolt of his son.  As he was leaving, a man called Shimei rained down curses upon him.  David’s men wanted to silence Shimei.  But David said, “let (Shimei) curse, for the Lord has told him to.  It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today” (2 Samuel 16:11-12).

Therefore even if someone curses you, you can be assured that God will bless you.  Their curses can have no effect upon you as your God’s blessing is mightier than their cursing.  God repays you good for the curses you receive.

3.         God will speak up for you

In another incident, a pious prophet Balaam was engaged to put curses on the nation of Israel.  But God intervened.  God said to Balaam “You must not put a curse on those people (Israelites) because they are blessed (by me)” (Numbers 22.12). 

When someone speaks badly of you, just remember that God will speak up for you.  Unknown to you, someone may be cursing you behind your back. Remember that unknown to you, God is blessing you behind your back.  He will cause His favour to rest upon you.  He will arrange for the right people, the right circumstances, the right opportunities to come your way to negate whatever curses have been thrown at you.  What God has blessed, no one can curse.  The Lord your God is with you.  You have the strength that He gives to you.  No sorcery, divination or evil words can ever prevail against you (Numbers 23:21-23).

4.         Be conscious of God

Whenever you are experiencing back biting, office politics and rumor mongering, remember what Christ did.  Like Him, we bear the sufferings because we are conscious of God and entrust ourselves to Him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:19-24).  Whatever wrong they say of you will be put right by God who acts for you.  God will always vindicate you.  Trust in Him.  No one can curse you because your God blesses you.

Who Does God help?

1.         A lie from the world

Many of us have been told – “God helps those who help themselves”.  This saying is not Biblical.  Nowhere in the Bible will you find such a verse or even mention such a principle.  The saying is humanistic.  It celebrates human strength and ignores the need to turn to God for help.  It says that you can do it on your own.  You don’t need God.  It’s a lie that comes from the world and has fooled many who live by this lie.

2.         Central truth

It has been said that if you line up all the verses in the Bible, you will find that the centre verse is Psalm 118:8 which says, “it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” (NKJV).  Therefore the centre verse represents a central truth which is at the heart of the Bible.  That central truth is that we rely on God instead of relying on ourselves. 

The apostle Paul knew this central truth and it was God who made sure he knew this truth.  In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, Paul described the hardships he suffered while bringing the gospel to the province of Asia.  He said he was under great pressure far beyond his ability to endure so that he despaired even of life.  He thought he was going to die.  All these pressures were used by God to teach Paul the central truth.  In Paul’s own words he said, “this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God” (verse 9).

Paul learned a central truth which guided him in his life.  It was not “God helps those who help themselves”.  It was “God helps those who are helpless”.

3.         God gives success

Another godly man learned this central truth.  In 2 Chronicles 26, we read of king Uzziah who became king at the age of sixteen.  He reigned fifty-two years.  The Bible recorded that as long as king Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success (verse 5).  He fought wars and the Bible says “God helped him” (verse 7) against his enemies.  God gave him success.  His fame spread and he became powerful  ( verse  8 ).

4.         Resources increase, reliance on God decreases

From a teenager, he grew up to be a powerful man.  He had a well-trained and organized army.  He had all the armaments needed for war.  He made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones.  In modern military terms, he had sophisticated artillery pieces, military engineering capabilities, 3G army, etc.  His fame spread far and wide (verse 11 -15).

Then the Bible said in verse 15, “he was greatly helped until he became powerful”.  After he became powerful, his pride led to his downfall (verse 16).  He entered the temple to burn incense which only a priest was allowed to do.  God struck him with leprosy and he died a leper; lived in a separate house and excluded from the temple (verses 19 – 21).

King Uzziah relied on God because he was a teenage king and needed God’s help.  When his abilities and resources increased, his reliance on God decreased.  We too must learn this central truth – “God helps those who are helpless”.  Do you have a problem?  Turn to God.  Ask for His help and know that He will always help the helpless.

Restoring Our Trust In God

 

1.         Shaping The Will

In our journey on earth, God wants to make us like His son Jesus who trusted in His Heavenly Father in everything.  Jesus’ will had to be shaped as He grew up on earth.  God too wants to shape our will through the difficult circumstances we face so that like Jesus we can also say to God “not as I will but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).  God uses the troubles we face to shape our will to trust Him even when it is difficult to trust.

2.         Sin came into our DNA    

When God made Adam and Eve, He gave them a will to choose.  They can choose to listen to Him or ignore Him. We read from Genesis that in the Garden of Eden, God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.  In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9).  God only required Adam and Eve to obey Him by not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  He provided them more than enough fruit trees and only asked them to avoid one tree.  Yet they chose to disobey Him and sin came into our DNA because of their choices.

3.         Trust in God was lost

Their fundamental problem was that they did not trust God.  They doubted Him as they felt He was withholding something from them.  They listened to Satan’s deceitful remarks.  They saw that the fruit of the tree was pleasing to the eye and good for food [just like the other trees] (Genesis 3:6).  Although the trees were all the same, they took the fruit as they wanted to be in control of their lives; they wanted to be like God (Genesis 3:5).

Because of what Adam and Eve did, sin is now in our DNA.  It’s our auto default tendency to sin.  Like Adam and Eve, we sometimes feel that God is withholding from us what we need.  We begin to doubt God and cannot trust Him to do what is best for us.

4.         Jesus restored our trust in God

The solution to our lack of trust is to believe in God’s love for us.  He sent His only Son Jesus to die for us so that when we believe in Him, our sins are forgiven.  We have the ability to live better lives because it is Christ who now lives in us (Galatians 2:20) who will enable us to do what we cannot do.

The first Adam did not trust God.  The last Adam, Jesus trusted God.  Trust was lost in the Garden of Eden.  Trust was restored in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus said “not as I will but as you will”.

When we believe that we have Jesus living in us and as we let God’s words in the Bible fill our lives, we will learn to make choices which spring from our trust in God.  Even if the situation we are in seems so dark, we can trust God to bring light into our darkness.  How He does it we will not know.  But we are told by Jesus in John 14:1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; trust also in me”.

Trusting God In Bad Times (D)

I mentioned previously that when it comes to trusting God, there are 3 questions that we tend to ask :-

 (i)         Is God in full control?

(ii)        Does God know best?

(iii)       Does God love me?

1.         God controls nature

When we trust God, we answer “Yes” to all 3 questions.  We believe God is in full control.  He is in control of choices we make and choices which other people make.  We also believe God is in control over nature too.  Take the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland which paralysed air travel worldwide.  If you were stuck in an airport overseas, can you trust God to work all things for your good?  That’s what trusting God means.  Even if a natural peril disrupts your schedule, you can trust God when you believe He is full control.

2.         God controls physical afflictions

Other than controlling the weather, we can also trust God to be in control of physical afflictions like cancer, blindness (Exodus 4:11, John 9:2), childlessness (1 Samuel 1:5), etc.  When we trust God, we are not resigned to what had happened.  We should still pray for healing in a trusting way (Habakkuk 3:17–18).

3.         God’s sovereignty and our responsibility

When we trust God, it doesn’t mean we submit to pious fatalism.  We can accept God’s sovereignty but we also need to pray about our situation (Philippians 4:6). Take the example of Nehemiah. While he was rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, he encountered fierce opposition.  He prayed to God and put his trust in God.  Yet the Bible recorded that even though Nehemiah prayed they still posted a guard  (Nehemiah 4:9). Therefore, even when we pray, we need to do our part and be responsible.  To be responsible does not mean we lack trust.  But when we do our part, we also trust God to do His part.  We do what we can do and trust God to do what we cannot do.

4.         We trust God’s Wisdom

When we are facing trials, we always believe in God’s wisdom to know what’s best for us in the situation.  He disciplines us for our good (Hebrews 12:10).  We accept that it is good to be afflicted so that we can learn more about God’s principles (Psalms 119:71).  God need not explain why He allows the bad situation to occur.  For example, when Job was tested, God never told him why it happened.  But Job trusted God nevertheless.

5.                  We know God loves us

When we are in trouble, we need to believe in established  Biblical truths, namely – God is love (1 John 4:8). ,what God does is good (Psalms 145) ,  He loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus to die in our place (1 John 4:9 -10) and  He made us His children (Romans 8:15-16).

We are joined to His son Jesus (John 15).  God loves His son Jesus and because we are joined to Jesus, God loves us also because we are in Christ and clothed in His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).  All these Biblical truths are for us to believe.  We rest secure in these truths and believe that God carries us close to His heart even as He wields sovereign power (Isaiah 40:10-11).

 6.                  Trust in God at all times

We trust in God at all times because He is in full control of all that happen to us.  He knows what’s best as we go through our trials and He loves us with an everlasting love.  These are all the sound reasons to trust in the Lord with all our hearts (Proverbs 3:5).

Trusting God In Bad Times (C)

1.         Three questions about God

When we trust God, we need to view our situation through the eyes of faith and not through our senses (2 Corinthians 5:7).  There are three questions about God when it comes to putting on faith in Him:-

(i)                 Is God in full control?

(ii)               Does God know best?

(iii)             Does God love me?

 The answer to all 3 questions is a “Yes!”  (i) God is completely sovereign, (ii) He is infinite in wisdom; (iii) God is perfect in love.

2.         God is in full control

Let me deal with the first truth; that God is in full control.  Lamentations 3:37-38 says,  “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?…from the mouth of the Most High ..both calamities and good things come.” 

These verses remind us that God is in full control of both the good and bad situations in our lives.  The good things we can accept.  But when the bad things happen, we need to remember that God is still in full control as He promised that in all things, He works for our good (Romans 8:28).  The Jews and Romans did a bad thing to Jesus and and crucified Him.  But in that bad situation, God turned it around and brought salvation to all of us (Acts 2:23-24, 36-39).

3.         God’s control over choices

Some of the situations we are in are due to our choices.  But God is still in control.  He said in Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart, a man plans his course but the Lord directs his steps”.  Even if we make bad choices, God is able to put us back on track if we go to Him and trust  Him to work in all the bad choices we make.

Some of the situations we are in are beyond our control.  They were caused by people who made choices that affected us.  Again in Proverbs 19:21, we are reminded, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”.  When the Jews and Romans planned to kill Jesus, they chose according to their self interest.  But God in His sovereignty remained in full control.  He used the evil they had planned to achieve the good that He purposed.

4.         God directs our future

When we trust in God, we also believe that our bad choices and the bad choices of others do not direct our future.  It is God who directs our future and as we trust in Him, He will bring about His plans for us.

In my next blog, I will write further about how to trust God more.