The Power of Trust: Letting Go of Fear and Worry

What would it be like if you never second guessed yourself? What would that feel like? How much stress would be eliminated from your life? What if you never worried? What would it be like to never let fear dominate you? Would you be a more peaceful person? What impact would it have on those closest to you?

What if I told you that the answer is much closer than you ever realized? What if it lies in the word “trust”?

Trust according to the Merriam Webster dictionary means “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something”.

I realized recently that I haven’t been trusting God. It creeped up on me slowly, but it was there. And I didn’t even know it.

I am and always have been a frequent dreamer. Usually, every night I will dream multiple dreams, and I have adopted the practice of recording them in the morning to see what messages God has for me. After trial and error, I eventually became fairly adept at remembering dreams from every night of sleep; however, it did take some intense effort sometimes.

I did this so often that I became fearful that if I didn’t, I was going to forget the dream and it would be my fault for not stewarding what God was trying to give me.

Now while I do see merit in making the habit of recording dreams, what I don’t advise is doing what I did and getting into a place of fear and worry being the motivator for writing them down.

I was talking with a friend one day and he said something that really struck me. It was simple, yet profound. He also is a dreamer, and I was asking him if he had any methods for remembering them. He said that he used to struggle with the same thing, but later understood that if God wanted him to remember a dream, then he would make it easy to remember. This resonated with me because I can relate to that. There certainly are dreams that are easier to remember with no effort, and there are those nearly impossible to recollect.

I realized I was making myself responsible for God’s job. In the book of Job, he talks about how the Lord instructs us through visions in the night. If the Lord is serious about instructing us, don’t you think he will see to it that it is memorable enough for us to recall it?

This is just one small example from my own life, but realizing this took a huge weight off my shoulders. That if my heart was in the right place and I want to hear from him, that he will make his voice and his instruction known to me. So practically, I’m at peace in the morning and if I can remember a dream, great. And if not, that’s great too. I trust I didn’t need anything to remember for that day.

But this applies in so many other areas. I think we oversaturate our minds with worry because we think we are being pragmatic; but the reality is we are taking on fear that never was intended to be there in the first place.

There is a benefit to wise decision-making. But there also is a mindset that is fear based where you are obsessing about every single detail, to the point where you’re afraid that if you don’t do the right thing, the whole house of cards is going to come down and it will be YOUR FAULT. If only I had thought through the alternatives more, if only I had made a better choice, THEN I would be in a better place now.

If we live from a place of joy, hope, and love- of being entirely filled by God’s love and pleasure of us- then it removes the drive to outwardly perform with every action we take. No longer are we stressing about which book to read, or which route to take to work, or whether you gave the most inspirational speech to your kids or not.

The point of the matter is this. Are you trying? Do you love God? Do you trust that he has your best interests at heart and already knows what you need? Even better than you know what you need? So what are we worrying about again?

It’s easy to think the point of all of this was to make the right choices and decisions to make us worthy and look good in the sight of God. We think that these external appearances and earned validation impute us with value. Because we’ve been taught that this is what makes us who we are.

The point of breakthrough is the realization that God makes you who you are. This is the single balancing factor at the center of the equation.

Let’s let go of that past, stop worrying about the future, and become the happiest and most fulfilled versions of ourselves, totally enveloped in the present moment.

I want to leave you with an exercise if you’re up for it. The next time you’re outside I want you to take a few deep breaths. Imagine with each breath your worries, fears, and concerns drifting away. Slow down, and if you have a place to sit- do so. Feel the breeze on your face- try to fully live in the moment. Close your eyes and feel all your senses, what do you hear? Open your eyes again after a few moments and find something to observe around you. Whether it’s a tree swaying in the breeze or an ant walking on a blade of grass. Slow down and observe it- blocking out all other thoughts, just fully observing it. What do you notice? How does it make you feel? Do all the other things matter anymore?  I would challenge you to try this for at least 2 minutes, and then see if you can do it longer. I’ve found this helps to ground myself in what really matters. Seeing things that are incredibly complex right beneath my nose, and reminding me of the reality that if our Creator designed even a small insect and its unimaginable complexity…how much more does he care about us and our needs?

Father today, I thank you for your love for me. I thank you that you loved me completely before I even knew you and could even do anything for you. Please help me to rest and center my identity on the truth of how you see me: the truth that there is nothing I can do to escape your love and delight in me. I thank you that I am set free to be the person you made me to be. In Jesus’s mighty name, amen.