Trusting God

Okay...

So I have a story for y'all this evening! Grab some tea, coffee... (or for Pete's Sake a lemonade! It's SO HOT!!!) and get comfy! This one is rather long... ;-)

 

{Picture Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentmelton/}

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“Dad, I only have a few days left of airtime on my phone,” Katie reminded her father. She had asked him earlier that day if they could do order some new minutes and service for her ‘pay-as-you-go’ cell phone, but for one reason or another, he had decided to put it off until later.

It was later. J

Dad was going to watch Courageous with his friend and her siblings, but he told Katie to go grab his work-issued Iphone so they could order her new minutes.

“Bring me your debit card, too,” Dad said, “so from now on when we do this, the company will just bill you directly, and you won’t have to worry about paying me back.”

So Katie grabbed her card and the other phone and brought them to her father, who had already settled into his easy chair.

Katie squatted down to sit on the floor next to her dad’s chair and watched they film play out on the large TV screen as her dad conducted business with his fingers. Some parts of the movie made Katie recall how she had cried the first time she had watched them, but other scenes caused her to laugh along with her little brother and sisters. After a while, Dad handed down the phone.

“There’s a list of several service options—” he informed her. “Click on the one you want.”

“I want the one you did last time.”

Dad looked rather annoyed. “Then choose that one.”
So Katie took his phone and after reading the synopsizes of all the other options, she chose the deal that gave her 30 days more of service and 750 minutes—more ability to text and send pictures J

{picture courtesy of Google Images}

After working out a kink or two, the transaction was complete—except for one seemingly minor detail… After the transaction had been completed, Dad read the ‘electronic receipt’ aloud to Katie. “Thank you for your purchase. 750 minutes and 30 days of airtime will be added to your phone on your phone’s refill date. Service has been paid for 7/28/12 through 8/28/12…”
“What!?” It was a very petty thing to be worried about, Katie knew, yet she didn’t want to be concerned with that now. It wasn’t even July yet! She didn’t want to go nearly an entire month without being able to use her phone! She knew—and even disliked—how pathetic that was, but oh well. It was what it was. “But Dad! That’s almost a month away! I can’t- I don’t want to wait that long for new minutes!”
Dad stared down at the screen in consternation. “That can’t be right…” After a moment of what appeared to be serious, deep thinking, his normal, laid back expression returned. Katie didn’t like that. He didn’t think it was that important… or at least not as important as she did. But she knew better than to verbalize her feelings. Her father continued. “I don’t think you’ll have to. Your phone should receive those minutes once it runs out of the other ones.”
“But Dad! That’s not what that blip you just read said!” Katie insisted.
Dad was looking annoyed again. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Sometimes those things mess up anyway.”
Katie was not convinced. “But it said—”
A stony element of warning crossed her father’s features. “I said ‘don’t worry about it’, Katie. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Get that fret off of your face. It should be fine—I shouldn’t have even read you that; I just was skimming it quickly anyway—but even if it doesn’t work out the way we want it to, it’ll be fine and we’ll worry about it then—alright?”
But it wasn’t all right. Katie hated how much of a brat she felt like, but she simply knew that her dad was wrong and that that email he had read was right. She would be without service for almost all of July.
“Lord,” Katie confided later that evening when she was alone, “I know I’ve been struggling with this ‘I’m-right-and-my-parents-have-no-idea-what-they’re-talking-about-thing’ a lot lately… I didn’t realize I had such a problem with it… and I know it is such a petty thing to worry about… and I know he told me not to worry about it, but even though I don’t “know”—even though I could be wrong—I still “know” I’m right!” She sighed. “Lord, please help me not to worry about this.”
It wasn’t important in the grand scheme of eternity anyway…

(Fast forward a week to a hotel lobby where a young lady is curled up in a fancy chair, writing feverishly in her devotional/prayer journal… Excerpts from that journal):

{Picture Courtesy of Google Images}

“June 30^th 2012, Saturday, Philippians 4:1-13 and 2 Corinthians 1:1-7, especially verse 5

This morning I received new airtime on my phone, unlike my “my-dad-has-no-idea-what-he’s-talking-about”/ “maybe-he-does-but-this-time-he’s-wrong”/ “I’m-right”/ “I-know-what-I’m-talking-about” mind and attitude displayed and manifested itself within me. I said, “Dad, you were right” and showed him my phone. He said it was good to hear me say he was right J lol and I told him that I {really} struggle with having that (know-it-all) (my-parents-don’t-know-what-they’re-talking-about) attitude, and he said I should’ve felt better when he told me not to worry about it… which is true—I should’ve simply trusted Him—ALL THE WAY!! If I would’ve, I would’ve felt better—it would’ve saved me a bunch of grief and worry. (Well, , not an exorbitant amount,, J, but you know) but no! I didn’t!! L Why? Because I thought I was right! I thought I knew better…

I DIDN’T.

Whoops!

Daddy doesn’t know my perspective of the last {paragraph or so} but he said …it was like simply trusting God. (“Taking Him at face value”, as it were.) {He} said something about trusting Him and how if I don’t really do it, like I didn’t trust/ believe him {my dad—my earthly father} (and thereby allow it and his wisdom to bring me relief!) {basically, the same thing will be mirrored in my walk with the Lord!} (“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts…” {Colossians 3:10} “… And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep my heart and mind through Christ Jesus”{Philippians 4:7}!!!)… … …

Umm, hello? J The {last paragraph or so} is how it is with {God and me}!!!!! My walk with Jesus! I told Daddy there was …a great parallel there, but even I didn’t realize how great the parallel truly was and is {of a daughter and her father and that same young lady and her Heavenly Father}!!!!!

If I don’t fully trust Him/believe Him/ take Him at His total Word, “only trust Him”, I’m going to cause myself stress and worry that I DON’T NEED to waste my time on because He’s already got it handled, taken care of, and UNDER CONTROL!!!!!”

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And the same is true for you, Dear sister. Precious Princess Warrior of the King of kings. The same way it is for me, or you, or anyone of us in our relationship with our earthly fathers, greatly mirrors the way we walk with our Heavenly Father, and reflects the relationship we have with Him!

If I would have simply trusted my father, who (duh) knew what he was talking about, had years of computer/technology wisdom to back it up, had told me to not worry about it (oh and guess what? By worrying about it after he told me not to, guess what I was doing???? Disobeying him!!! YIKES!!!)—if I would have simply TRUSTED him, simply OBEYED him, simply LET GO of my “but I want to fix it because I know how it should work out” reasoning, I could have saved myself so much effort, time, and mental energy that was tied up with the stress, worry, fretting that I accomplished instead! If I would have simply TRUSTED my father, and TAKEN HIM AT HIS WORDS OF WISDOM, I would have been much better off, and much more at ease!

(Is ANYONE besides me drawing the parallel here!? JJJJ)

Now obviously this is over a silly petty thing such as cell phone service and airtime, but God very much can and did use something as trivial as cell phone minutes to rock a girls world and alter her perspective!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Trust me.

He did. J

If I would simply TRUST the one I say I trust, if I simply LET GO of all my ‘but I can fix it’ and ‘but I know how it should all work out’ reasoning (basically, the fleshly desire to be IN CONTROL of the circumstances and outcomeL), if I simply TOOK MY SAVIOR AT HIS WORD, how much useless, painful, time-consuming, stress-causing, and COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY worry could I totally skip! How many more blessing could I bask in and enjoy if I simply ‘let go and let God’?!?!?!?!

I’m not saying that I have this all figured out. I’m not saying that now because I have realized this principle that I’ve suddenly learned it and will walk in it from now on. But By God’s good grace a light has begun burning in my soul, and He is continuing to add to it. He wants me to enjoy the peace that passes all understanding by simply trusting Him!
And, did you know, dear sister, that HE WANTS THAT FOR YOU AS WELL?!?!? What about you, dear sister? Do you say that you trust Him, yet cling subconsciously to human reasoning to make you feel more secure with that theoretical trust (so totally preaching to the choir here!)? Do you truly ‘take Him at His Word’? Do you believe every promise and statement He makes? Or do you simply know, like I (thought I) did, that “you’re right”, that “just this time, He doesn’t know what He’s talking about”, that “sure He’s always right, but I don’t think He can handle this instance”???

DON’T!!! O don’t cling to those lies! ‘Tis SO SWEET to trust in Jesus, for only in that place of complete trust is that place of comprehension-surpassing peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, dear sisters, the Lord gave you your earthly father for a reason—whether he’s walking in the light of the Spirit or whether he is not L– but your relationship and/or how you interact with your earthly father truly does bare a parallel with your relationship with your heavenly Father—if only to show the perfection and unparalleled loving kindness of the latter!!!

So don’t miss this dear sister! Respect and obey your earthly fathers! Trust them! (Believe it or not, they know what they’re talking about! J Even when the odds are seemingly not in their favor. Again, take it from someone who knows! Lol) But most importantly, TRUST your Heavenly Father—pray and ask for more faith and trust! Believe him and simply let go and let Him.

The results can and will be far greater than either one of us (you or I J) could ever imagine!!! (Ephesians 3:20)

(PS: I love you Daddy! ♥)

{Picture Courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentmelton/}