Trusting when it's easy

I know this blog title sounds odd ... so often we talk about trusting God when it's hard--when things are rough, when life is unpredictable. But I find my real issues of trust come when times are easy: life is good, I'm happy, and I don't "need" to trust God for anything in particular.

Today, during my workout, I listened to a song by Lecrae called Background. The lyrics read:

I had a dream that I was captain of my soul.

I was master of my fate, lost control, and then I sank.

So I don't want to take the lead

Cause I'm prone to make mistakes.

All these folks that follow me gon' end up in the wrong place.

So, just let me shadow You, and just let me trace Your lines.

Matter of fact just take my pen.

Here, You create my rhymes.

Cause if I do this by myself I'm scared that I'll succeed.

And no longer trust in You, cause I only trust in me.

And see, that's how you end up headed to destruction.
Paving a road to nowhere. Pour your life out for nothing.

The lyrics spoke deeply to me (the whole song is epic--check it out!).

Here's the thing about me: when life gets easy, it's not so much that I need God any less--it's that I trust Him with less, and me with more. And like Lecrae said, "If I do this by myself, I'm scared I'll succeed."

What do I mean by this? I think I am totally capable of succeeding in many areas of my life BY MYSELF. I could probably stop trusting in God right now, and still have a happy marriage, successful job, good friends. And that would be cool to some people (probably most people), but not to me. Because I'm not the centre of the universe, and when life all boils down ... I can't do anything to save myself from my own mortality, my own human-ness, my own proneness to mistake. I need a Saviour ... not just when times are tough, but every day of my life.

So I remind myself, when life is easy, I can't simply forget God and rely on myself. I have to trust Him with even the easy times ... with even the small things. If this sounds scary, it's not. It's one of the greatest joys of knowing Christ--that we are not simply living for ourselves, but for something greater ... the King of the Universe. It's also one of the defining features of a Christian, what sets us apart. We are not just following a "code of good morals", but genuinely trusting in the freedom of Christ.

Princess Identity

How many times have you heard a beautiful girl complain and cry out, "I'm ugly. I look fat!" 

How many times have you said that about yourself?

We've all been there. As young women, our teenage years are crucial in forming who we are and how we view ourselves (our identity or value). We start to build our value based on many things--grades, boys, popularity, beauty, family.

As young women, we can let so many things TELL US mixed messages about our identity and our value. Take a look at the following checklist, and mentally check off how many of the scenarios are true in your life.

• When a boy flirts with you, you feel great. When he passes you by without a second glance, you feel invisible.

• When you pass a test with a 90%, you feel like you might actually have a future one day. When you fail chemistry, you call yourself dumb or stupid.

• At lunch, when you are surrounded by friends in the caf, you feel safe and secure. When your best friends seem to be spending all their time together (without you), you begin to question what you did wrong.

• When someone compliments you on your looks, you feel beautiful, but only for a moment. Then, you see the mirror and all your insecurities show through.

• You feel okay with your favourite jeans on, but when it's laundry day, you go through the whole day feeling ugly and fat.

• When your parents are happy, you love them. But the moment they yell at you, you assume they hate you.

• When all your friends were single, you still thought you were pretty normal. But now that they've all had boyfriend, you feel like an unloved loser.

Almost every one of those scenarios came straight from my past--and maybe from your past OR present, too. Don't we do this all the time as young women--we feel great about ourselves when everything is going well, but we feel like trash when even one thing goes wrong? One day we like ourselves, the next day we don't.

Well it's time to BUST this cycle and bust the myth that our value is derived from these things!!!!!!!!

If you are a child of God, you are a princess! You have infinite value through Jesus Christ! 

Let me explain:

An earthly princess is a princess no matter what. They cannot "escape" their royalty, nor can they earn it. Their value as a princess is given to them at birth and they cannot lose it. No matter what they say or do, no matter if they are ugly or beautiful, fat or skinny, kind or mean, rich or poor, ONCE A PRINCESS, ALWAYS A PRINCESS.

Likewise, once we are born into God's family, we become daughters of the King of Kings. We are princesses, not because we earned it through our good looks or good deeds, but because He LOVES us and has adopted us as His daughters. We inherit all the riches of the King, and we inherit His identity. Jesus Christ loved us so much that He died for us, so that we may join His family.


Still don't believe it?

Ephesians 1:3-12 (MSG) says "How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.Still having trouble believing this? 

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone."

Today is a Great Day to be a Princess ...

To all the princesses out there, it's time to start letting Christ's amazing love overwhelm you! Today, I dare you to start battling all the thoughts that come into your head and cause you to think low of yourself. Instead, try to remember that your real identity is a Princess--a daughter of Christ, wholly loved!

* In high school, I had this very special reminder list in my Bible, and I read it frequently. I highly recommend that you print it off and put it somewhere you will see it: Who I am in Christ. It has many MANY more verses that remind us of our identity!