A simple way of defining trust is believing someone will be there for you when you need him
How do you want to build a relationship with a prospective employee you do not know before ? Your concern may be to know if this person can be trusted to stay on the job for a reasonable period of time.
So you ask the person questions around past job history such as where did you work before? How long did you stay with your previous employer? What was your relationship with your boss? Why did you leave and so on and so forth ? What you’re trying to do is to figure out whether based on this person’s history, he can be trusted to be stable on a job. Building trust with your maker is very similar, even though you cannot see God to interview him about his past, however, through His wisdom, he has provided his track records for you to check out. He has done these primarily in two ways. First through His word, the Scriptures, and secondly, through those that have walked with him in the past. He has a solid track record about His integrity, His faithfulness, and His trustworthiness. I am privileged to be one of those witnesses and I can testify to you that God can be trusted absolutely
Adversity is a fact or reality of life, regardless of who you are or your faith. Dennis Wholey said, expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge, because you are a vegetarian. So if everyone will experience adversities in life, regardless of whether or not you have a relationship with your maker, or whether you’re a person of faith or not then what is the difference ? The difference is when you have developed trust in God, you are not alone in adversity, and with God on your side, you have exponentially increased your chances of overcoming adversity.
The good thing is that adversity strengthens your faith in God after you have overcome. This helps you to build the track record of trust in your relationship with God in such a way that the next time adversity comes knocking. you can always look back and draw strength from how God has helped you to overcome in the past.
Here are some practical ways to help you overcome in times of adversity
One prayer. God who made the universe is aware that adversity is inevitable and He has already extended an invitation to us to call on him and invite him to help us in the time of adversity. When we pray we are writing on this blank check already given to us. I have a lot of track records of God‘s answers to my prayers and prayers I pray for other people in times of their adversities . At some point, one of the major challenges I have faced was transitioning from my business career into nursing career. I was in a new country and the program was extremely competitive because it was in one of the top universities. It was an accelerated program so the speed was intense. I almost gave up because I was met with a lot of frustrations. This forced me to pray, and I can tell you, without a shadow of doubts that God brought me through it
Secondly, the word of God contains His promises for us to continuously draw strength from in times of adversity. Two things the word of God will do for you in adversity.
One, it will assure you of God’s faithfulness to His promise to help you and secondly, it will continue to renew your mind to encourage you to keep going. In my own case, one thing the word of God did to me when I was going through my challenge as a nursing student was to constantly inspire me to keep on going reminding me that it is not the person who begins the race that wins, but those who endure to the end
Thirdly, service to God and your fellow men. . In adversity, the natural tendency is for us to either be so discouraged that we do not want to get involved in serving God by serving other people.
Sometimes we are so focussed on solving our own problems that we become indifferent to serving other people. However, one of the most effective ways to overcome adversity is to intensify our service to God when we are going through adversity
Couple of years ago, my husband was working in a bank that was having challenges and laying people off so heavily. We were not sure at what point it’ll be his turn to be laid off because almost everybody was gone. He kept applying for a new job, but nothing was forthcoming. At the same time we were part of a team that was asked to pioneer a new church. We continued to serve with lots of passion in spite of our challenges. One day while he was busy serving in the church he was informed about the offer of a job he had applied for six months earlier. This launched my husband’s career into a new level completely.
The season of adversity is not a time to faint. It is a time to put your trust in God in order to tap into the blessing that can possibly come out of that adversity. Amy Michael said.” Let us not be surprised when we have to face difficulties.. When the wind blows hard on a tree, the roots stretch and grow stronger. Let it be so with us. Let us not be weaklings yielding to every wind that blows but strong in the spirit to resist As I conclude in today’s session, I have shared with us about some of the practical ways to help overcome in times of adversity
