(original message sent via email 8/4/23)
I had my follow up in Boston and all is well, the biopsy is benign! Thank God! I am truly grateful for this prayerful community and for your thoughtful notes and prayers over the past week. Please know I am here beside you as well to pray for you as well whenever you need it.
Waiting for results is never easy for me. I waver between trusting God wholeheartedly to fear gripping my heart, to trusting God to playing stories in my head about negative outcomes (stay tuned on Monday for the new podcast where I talk more about this).
Trusting God is something we all can do. Consistently trusting God is not easy but a practice I pray to grow in, and I pray you do too, with the help of Spirit.
A quick story for you about trust for you before we enter the weekend...
One morning recently I came downstairs and saw money on the counter one of our kids had left there after work. When I went to move the money, I saw this dollar. When I looked closer my heart sank.
Can you see what made my heart sink?
"In God we trust" is crossed out on this dollar bill. Seeing this broke my heart because God is not only worth believing in, but trusting in. I didn't always believe and trust in God but I never would have thought to cross these words out. I know not everyone believes in God but someone disbelieves enough that they chose to cross out these words. I paused to think that the person who did this and wondered what their story is that lead them to the moment when they chose to do this.
What makes them not trust in God? And what is it that they put their trust in?
I am not sure if seeing this bothers you as much as it bothers me but I share it today to shine a light on the truth that so many people don't believe or trust in God. I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.™
May we be a part of the change we need to see and be a bridge for others to get to know, love and trust in God. Through our words and actions may we be the salt and light we are called to be, and may we help others see that He is worth believing in and He is trustworthy - not just when we get good news, but all the time.
And the next time we pick up a dollar bill, may we take a moment not only to read these words, but may we pray we live them out so that others, like the person who crossed this out, may someday be curious enough to take a step of faith towards God, instead of away from Him.
With love and hope,
Shawn
P.S. For more encouragement for your weekend, listen to this week's PODCAST EPISODE!
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
- Proverbs 3:5-6