Trusting God in Difficult Times for a New Way to Wake Up

It’s amazing how a few minutes spent reading God’s Word will alter a negative attitude. Whether we struggle with worry, doubt, or frustration, God has the encouragement we need to turn those thoughts around.

So what can we do when problems try to invade our thoughts before we even open our eyes in the morning? Is there a way to retrain our minds to wake up trusting God’s promises instead of rehashing our problems? How do we stop morning worry and start trusting God?

2 Corinthians 10:5 says we can “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” That’s great news for those problems that come back in the early morning hours before coherence kicks in. What we need is a short but powerful Truth to easily recall when morning worry happens.

A Short and Simple Verse to Refocus the Worry and Jump-Start Your Day

Can I be gut-honest with you today? I’m tired of letting problems take the first moments of my day. I’m absolutely done giving God my concerns over and over, only to grab them back again. God doesn’t want that for us. He longs for us to walk in His promises every day of our lives. But we need to put in a little work to get there.

Are we willing to trust God with our anxious thoughts?

Here’s a good place to start, a short and simple verse to jump-start our day. With it, we can begin to resist morning worry and wake up trusting God.

Paul encouraged the church at Corinth with these few words of faith. Although we will have problems in this life, we trust in the One who makes all things new. We may not be able to see Him now, but we know His mercies are “new every morning.” He is faithful to accept our deepest hurts and replace them with His perfect peace.

So if we can commit these words to memory and believe in their truth, we can also trust God is there with us in those wee hours, ready to restore our peace once again.

God will gladly trade our worry for peace, our doubt for confidence, and our frustration for His grace.

Tomorrow morning, anxious thoughts may come again. They may try and convince me to revisit the problems already covered by God’s promises. But tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow, I’ll be ready. I will live by believing.

We are blessed today to have encourager Carmen Horne share her wisdom. (She wouldn't want me to brag about her, but I'm going to anyway.) I know you will feel the sincerity of her heart when you read her words. Welcome Carmen!

2 Ways to Choose Trust

“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work. For as the sky soars high above earth so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think.” Isaiah 55:8-9, MSG

Do you bounce back and forth between worry and trust? My word, I do. Recommitting to my decision to trust God in certain situations is not only a yearly thing for me, it’s often daily.

Please tell me you struggle with this too. We are firmly dedicated to letting go of the anxiety that comes with a situation, and before we realize it, our devotion begins to wane.

It’s not like God has abandoned us. It’s not like He has never answered our prayers. We fill journals with thankfulness.

For me, I think part of my distrust rests within my fear of the unknown. I heard one of my favorite Bible teachers say in reference to God answering prayers, “We don’t know if He will, but we always know He can.”

Oh, but we want to know He will. We want that assurance that His answer will always be yes. We know best, right?

How will we ever overcome this tug of war in our souls? Are there ways to make our choice to trust God in the midst of the unknown for real this time?

Here are a couple of things I am trying to remember when I begin to worry and fret. Hopefully you will find them helpful as well.

Remember who God is and what we know about His character -

Scripture is filled with affirmations of God’s love and care for us – Jeremiah 29:11, John 14:27, Proverbs 1:33 are some of my favorites. Not only scripture, but our lives testify to a loving God that is faithful. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I think back on the times God has met my needs, protected my family, and healed my body. I look for truth – not what I am feeling at the moment. Our feelings usually gravitate toward the negative during stressful times.

Understanding that choosing trust is powerful –

There is power in a choice. We decide. It’s an act of our will. Quoting Joyce Meyer, “In Deuteronomy 30:19 (AMP), God says, ‘…I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.’ ‘Every choice is a seed you sow, and those seeds produce fruit in your life – either for life or for death. And if we want to have the life Jesus died to give us – an abundant life full of real peace and joy – we need to make wise choices.”

Choosing trust is good seed sown for our peace.

Often, I choose trust with my knees knocking, my voice trembling, and tears flowing. I don’t think trust has to look pretty, I think it just needs to look sincere.

Living with abandon in Christ’s love and care can happen for us. Let’s choose life.

Wife, mom and Jesus girl best describes Carmen. She has been married to her fella, Lary, for 38 years and has one beautiful daughter.

She walks out her calling to women’s ministry as a writer, speaker and Christian Women’s Hope Coach, lending her ear and heart to those looking to find hope in the craziness of life.

Carmen is convinced her home in heaven will be beach-side with a chocolate filled closet, but until that glorious day, her family makes the Bayou State their home. Connect with Carmen here:

Visit my blog at Carmen Horne, Walking With Women, Embracing God's Truth.