More Lessons in Trust

Every time I seem to achieve a new level of trust, God seems to show me that I still have so much more to learn. This past Friday night provided a perfect example of that, as well as the opportunity to climb one more rung on the ladder of complete trust.

Doug and I had just finished the movie we picked out for our weekly date night and we were heading to bed. Doug decided to check the weather and email one last time first. When he did, he saw an email that immediately grabbed his attention. It was from someone on an internet pastor message board that Doug was a member of. Evidently, he was a member of another pastor message board and had seen an emergency message on the other board. A pastor from Alabama posted that he was supposed to meet his daughter-in-law at an Alabama airport that night, but she had been stranded in Memphis due to the winter storm that had hit the Mid-South area that day. She was stuck in the airport with an 18-month-old, and she was out of diapers and milk for the toddler. She was scared to death and didn't know what to do! The post asked if there were any Memphis area pastors who could help.

Naturally, Doug sprang into action. He called the man who'd sent the email and explained that we live very close to the airport and would help in any way we could. The man said he would pass the information and our phone number along to see what we could do from there. The only information we had was the young woman's first name and an update that she had been put on a shuttle and taken from the airport for the night. So, we waited. We waited and waited some more. No news. The man who'd originally cried out for help was now totally silent. No updates, no further information, no response to our offer of help. Our hands were tied. We knew there was a young woman and sweet little toddler out there in need of help, and there was nothing we could do to help her. We tried to call the airport, but with only a first name and no flight information, they couldn't help us.

After an hour of waiting and trying to seek ways to find this young woman, we felt like we just had to go on to bed. I got to bed first while Doug was finishing up a few things, and my conversation with the Lord started rolling. Now, I'd been praying the whole time - praying that this young woman would receive the help she needed and that we would be able to receive information if the help needed to come from us. But, now the conversation changed.

"Lord," I said, "please let us hear an update so we can rest well tonight knowing she's taken care of."
"Why?" came the response. "Do you not trust Me to have her taken care of whether you're involved or not?"
"But, Lord, we will be much more at peace if you could just let us know that she's okay and we're not needed. We can go to sleep knowing someone else was able to handle the situation."
"So, you don't really trust Me to take care of her, do you?"
"Of course I do, Lord! You see it all - I just want to know You've succeeded, that's all!"
"Why? So you can step in and cover the bases in case I've missed anything? It seems this is more for you than for her. This is more about you being able to sleep tonight than about her needs being met. So, it boils down to the fact that you are not trusting Me to take care of her. You can't just take My word for it that everything is all under control. So, will you trust Me?"

It's amazing how we can have a conversation with the Lord in our minds. We could easily write it off as talking to ourselves, but I can guarantee you that the thoughts entering my mind with each of my arguments were NOT from me. They were convictions of the Holy Spirit pointing out the error of my ways. The conversation ended when He reminded me that He's been working on me to raise my level of trust in Him, and this was just one more opportunity for that. I made one last plea for information for Doug's sake, but He reminded me that He could take care of Doug, too. I just needed to worry about myself! Sure enough, Doug came into the room saying that if God needed us, He'd let us know, but for the time being he was going to get a good night's sleep!

The big test was going to be going to sleep. Would I really trust Him enough to allow my mind to rest, or would I worry about this young woman and her baby all night long? I'm so delighted to be able to say that this time I passed the test. I let the peace of God reign, and I slept very well. We still haven't heard any updates on the situation, and I figure we never will. God didn't send this information our way for us to help. He sent the information to increase our trust. I'm thankful He led me through this test and I pray that I'll trust Him even more next time - maybe next time without even arguing!!