“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.” Isaiah 26:3

If you’ve ever spent any time in the corporate world, I’m sure you’ve participated in your fair share of “team building” exercises. I can speak from experience when I tell you that these can be very useful tools in developing a closer and more cohesive unit of people who need to work together successfully. One exercise in particular has become quite stereotypical, and used as an illustration of extreme team building in numerous movies and television shows: the trust fall.

The “trust fall” is when you pair up with another person, stand with your back to them, eyes closed, arms extended out to each side, and then free-fall backwards into the waiting arms of your partner. The whole point of the exercise is two-fold. First, the person doing the catching must be there and follow through on their part by actually catching their partner. Second, the person falling must completely let go of all control and TRUST that the other person is going to be there and not let them fall and be hurt.

While riding down the road this morning, my husband at the wheel as we traveled around town running errands, I got a little lost in thought about the concept of trust. I was contemplating what it really means to trust the Lord with my worries, and had to admit to myself that I still have a lot of work to do in that area. It’s just not easy to do. In theory, it should be the easiest thing in the world. I mean, all we have to do is “let go” of what we’re worried about, right? Yeaaaahhhh…..right. It’s the equivalent of having a giant spider crawling across your face and then forcing yourself to ignore it.

In reading a devotional this morning, I finally had a breakthrough in my understanding of why it is so hard to let go and allow my life to do a major trust fall back into the waiting arms of God. Satan. He is always there in our minds, pushing us and speaking negativity into our thoughts. He wants us to believe that it’s up to us to solve our problems, and it’s up to us to find the answers we need. The reality is that none of it is up to us. In every instance, every situation, every problem we face, the answer is always God. We have to be able to tell Him what we are worried about, ask Him for direction, and then be patient and listen for His guidance. We have to be able to trust that He is always there waiting to catch us when we fall.

It’s literally impossible for us to catch ourselves, and in worrying ourselves to death, that is exactly what we are trying to do. We try to be both the person falling back, and the person waiting to catch them, and that is how our minds get twisted up in stress and panic. The adversary convinces us that we must do it all, but that is just not possible. And it is not what God needs from us. God says very clearly in Psalm 34:17, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.” That is always the answer: cry out to the Lord and He will hear you. HE will deliver you from your troubles.

Truly being able to hand something over to our Heavenly Father that is weighing on your heart and soul like the anvil from the Titanic is a tremendous blessing. It is the only way we can have peace in this life. Telling Him that I trust Him with my life, my heart, and my worries, and MEANING IT, is where I was able to turn a corner today. I want my life to be what He needs it to be. I want to serve His purpose and make sure that I am not imposing my will on His. I want to be the wife, sister, auntie, daughter, friend, nurse, and disciple of Christ, that God needs me to be.

What is it that you need to hand over to Him, but continue to allow incessant access to your mind? Whatever it is, I suggest you tell Him straight up that you are struggling to hand it over to Him, and ask Him to help you do so. Ask Him to show you the way, because I know from experience that He will. He has never failed to catch me when I fall. NEVER.