I had a great discussion yesterday morning with a couple friends about trusting God. One of the ladies, who is a bazillion times wiser than me, mentioned that when she is going through a difficulty and is offering it to God, that she continually reminds herself to trust Him. Every day, multiple times. Not that she doesn't trust Him. She does. Just that when those little unbidden thoughts of sadness or discouragement or whatever enter her mind, she reminds herself of God's sovereignty and might and that she trusts Him. And she is at peace. I thought that was such a good one!
Later, the discussion made me think of a teacher I knew back in my Peace Corps days in Botswana. She was a funny lady, and had a good rapport with her students. When they were having trouble remembering concepts that she knew that they knew but had forgotten, she would say in an exasperated tone: "You are thick!" I guess she said it enough times because one day, the class was having difficulty remembering something, and she said to them: "Come on, why don't you remember this?" And they responded: "Because we are thick, Madam!" She got a good laugh that day.
I am the thick one. I've said before that I am a late bloomer. It takes me a long time and multiple lessons to get some stuff. And here I am with the same issue of trust. I trust God. I do. I know nothing is impossible with Him. I know He is in control. I know all things work for the good for those that love Him. I know. I know. I know. Yet, I am thick. I still get sad. I still get discouraged. I still sigh heavily on Friday afternoons when another week has passed with no new information on #3 and #4 and there is a weekend ahead when obviously there can be no news for another two full days.
So God has taught me another lesson. Hope I can remember it.