• Building Trust Brick By Brick

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    In a lot of ways it's been a difficult year. After years of hoping and planning, our dreams of moving into my grandparents home were dashed when, no matter how hard we tried, our house just wouldn't sell. I had to put down my dog of 13 years, Gracie in June. There's been situations with ministry weighing me down. My Mom needed surgery to remove a cancerous spot. And then I found out the treatment that works for most people with chronic sinus infections just wasn't working for me and now I'm awaiting sinus surgery to fix the problem. A tough year indeed.

    But if there's one thing this year has taught me it's this: our trust in God is built brick by brick, event by event, and the more it is built, the stronger it gets.

    Sunny days and seasons might be fun and carefree, but somehow they don't draw us close to God and help build our faith and trust in Him the same way rainy seasons do. It's during the rain and the storms when we can't see the sun and don't know where we are going that we have to stop relying on ourselves to perform our way out of problems. As a result, we have to turn to God and let Him move in ways that only He can.

    And when He does, when He carries us through to the other side, even though the journey was hard, we breathe a little easier knowing He can be trusted. There adds a brick to our wall of faith. Then the next time a storm starts brewing we have the confidence we need to turn to Him a little sooner and have the faith to hand Him the reigns instead of trying to play god in our lives.

    My faith and trust in God is a lot stronger now than it was two trials ago. And I'm sure you can say the same. Our faith gets refined through the hard times we face and as we're told in 1 Peter, it's not something done in vain. We read,

    "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." 1 Peter 1:6-7


    So let this be an encouragement to you if you're treading water right now in life, trying not to be overtaken by the waves: don't give up and don't start second guessing if God is going to come through this time. I can tell you beyond all doubt that not only will He come through, but He's going to carry you all the way, until you're sitting on the other side of this storm with a firmer faith.

    Closing with a promise from scripture:

    "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock." (Isaiah 26:3-4)


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