How to trust God?

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Hi everyone,

Been thinking about a question that seems to be key to much of my struggles with spirituality. I think this is something everyone deals with, and I thought I would bring it up that it may help everyone who struggles with this area.

I don’t seem to know how to trust God. I have been taught how to worry about absolutely everything but not how to trust God in anything. How do I remedy this?

Any suggestions or advice or thoughts or recommended reading are good, and also prayers as well. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this matter. Prayers appreciated.
Thank you.
God bless you all. Amen.
 
Praying that the Holy Spirit will lead you into trust in our God. God bless you as well.
 
We see that worry is opposed to God, as it stems from a lack of trust - which we all share, as we are flawed human beings. Saint Padre Pio famously said, “Pray, hope and don’t worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful.”

In my case, it took a life-threatening illness, in which hope was fading. At one point, I simply let go. I abandoned all claim to my life and expected the end to come. God was waiting for me to trust Him. When I did, He handed my life back to me. That was eight years ago, and it taught me a huge lesson.
 
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A few years ago, I had tests done for cancer, about a month later the doctor phoned and said he urgently wanted to see me, it was non – Hodgkin Lymphoma, this was a name I recognised, our friend had this cancer, and died a few months later. I prayed for the wisdom, strength, peace and serenity to do God’s will, whether the cancer was a death sentence, or just an inconvenience. I can only say that from the moment of making this prayer, I have experienced a profound sense of peace, and the thought of cancer has never troubled me for a moment.

Cancer could be a truly worrying process, you wait a month or two for tests, you wait for the results, and you wait for more tests, but the prayer to do God’s will sort of handed the problem to God, and I have never had to worry. I have never once prayed for healing, at the age of 62, the prayer for healing seemed too complicated, it might or might not be my time to go. Recognising this profound sense of peace comes from God, gives me reason to be thankful.

I could not imagine this sense of peace without a faith and trust in God. I can say, from the moment of hearing about my cancer and making that prayer, I could talk about cancer in the same way as I talk about what’s for dinner?

Death is not the problem, we all die at some time, some things are out of our control, and worrying just stops you living your day to day life.
 
I try to think of Matthew 6:25-34 any time I experience anxiety. Whenever I remember to, it is usually enough to completely put my mind at ease.
 
Trusting in God happens over time and after much prayer asking God to help us to trust in him. The more we grow in the Lord, the more we come to trust in him. As our faith grows, so does our trust.

The more and more we believe that God truly loves us, the more we come to believe and trust in him, and feel secure in him, and know that he always has his eye upon us and has the best in mind for us. How do we come to this point? We have limited power to do this by ourselves–all things come from asking God, and as Jesus said, we need to ask, and ask, and ask, and keep on asking.

But we can nurture our faith and trust as well, and I have found the best way is through reading scripture. Ephesians 4:23 says we need to be ‘renewed in the spirit of our mind and to put on this new self’. In other words, come to know the scripture–for this is the very Word of God which is given to encourage us and to teach us. And we need to ‘put it on’ like we put a garment on–we need to put it into practice and make it a part of us.

One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.’ Pray for this to become a reality in your life, wait on the Lord and keep seeking him.

I’ve said a prayer for you as well.
 
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I understand how you feel, I have been through the same thing…It took me awhile, especially after I lost my husband and my brother within two years of each other. The last thing I wanted to hear was 'trust in God ’ I didn’t go to Mass, I just didn’t believe He was there for me, I felt absolutely nothing. One day I took a walk in the park close to my home, it was early morning, I started looking around at all the creatures who inhabit this park as they were waking and starting there day. Deer, rabbits, squirrels and alot of species of birds along with all the trees and plants. I started to cry and I let it all out as I told God how angry at Him I was. and then it came, the feeling of the love God instills in your heart, the peace that only He can give that lets you know you will be safe with Him watching over you. I suggest you take that walk in the park when no one else is around or some other quiet place and open your heart to God. God Bless
 
I figure if you can’t trust God, who can you trust? That’s a no-brainer for me. I guess the question is what do you mean by “trust?” If you are saying trust God to give you everything you happen to want without you doing anything, that’s not the way it works. If you are saying trust God to provide what you need to get to heaven, that makes more sense.

I think we can worry about less if we trust the important stuff to God, but we still have to be concerned about the affairs of daily living. There is “constructive worry” and just “ruminating.” Constructive worry can help get your through the day without being late for appointments, missing deadlines, etc. Ruminating is just mental churn and has no value.

The test is, “Is this worry helping me do what I need to do or just taking up space in my mind and causing me pain?” It it is the former, that is a part of life. If it is the latter, let God handle it, along with the spiritual stuff.
 
You trust by your actions, not your feelings.
I.e.
“I really want this bracelet sitting out unattended on the jewelry store counter (feeling), but I trust the word of God that stealing is wrong, so I will walk away and not just take the bracelet (action).”

Peace!
 
Worry and anxiety are useless. Jesus Himself said: “And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:27). In the Holy Mass the priest prays that “we may be always … safe from all distress,” which before 2011 was “protect us from all anxiety.” St. Francis de Sales wrote in Part IV, Chapter 11 of Introduction to a Devout Life that “This unresting anxiety is the greatest evil which can happen to the soul, sin only excepted.”

Now why is this? According to the scholastics, fear is one of the “emergency passions” that arise when there is a great evil to be confronted. That is, fear should be only be present during extraordinary times, and if so should only be short-lived. Fear should not be a lingering state of mind like happiness or sadness, which anxiety and worry unfortunately are.

Furthermore, fear makes us move to either confront the coming evil and fight, or to fly away or hide from the said evil to save ourselves and our loved ones. In either case fear is a mover. On the other hand, anxiety and worry only either paralyzes us or makes us want to move in ways that are harmful or impossible for us to do.

In other words, worry and anxiety are useless because they are abnormal forms of fear. They bombard us with signals of danger where there are none, which can be harmful since they drown out the inspirations of our Lord as well as the legitimate signals of danger in our environment.

So how can we overcome worry and anxiety? First of all, if they are so serious that they are affecting your life, seek professional help. I cannot stress this enough. Secondly is prayer: " Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray" (James 5:13). Further than these is to continue what I have been trying to do: know the difference between true fear and abnormal fear, and from that knowledge overcome worry and anxiety.

Here are a couple of things about fear, true or otherwise, that can help you: Fear is always, without exception, about a future evil. Therefore, your fear is solid proof that whatever it is you are fearing has not yet happened. Corollary to this is that you are rarely afraid of what is in the forefront of your mind, but rather you are afraid of its links to pain and death in the future.
 
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Keep the Law of God (that we as Christians follow) always as your guide. Pray much. Try to live righteously.
This should have you realize the Law of God is sound. He is Wise. Do not worry. Pray. Help others. That’s it.
You can’t change things by worrying.

You could die in the next few moments for all we know. You can’t control even that.
But, God knows. He knows everything and His Will is always right. Talk with Him every day, perhaps when you go to bed (should I say night?). Try to follow His Will, for He knows so much better than you. The wisdom of mere men is foolishness to God, and the foolishness of God is wisdom to men. But, what wisdom do men have, and what foolishness is in God?
 
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I have been a Street Pastor for about ten years, we go out on our streets from around 11pm until about 4 am on a Friday night. We are there because we care about our town and we try and help people when we can.

We often come into contact with drunken anger and fights. I can remember the first time, there was about a dozen people fifty yards down the road; and they just started punching each other. We prayed as we approached them, I saw one man punched to the ground, another was being kicked on the floor, and a man swung round and punched a women in the face.

We walked in the middle of all this anger, people were in front of me and behind, there was so much I should have worried about. Yet I experienced a profound sense of peace that was truly beyond my understanding whilst in the middle of all the anger. I can only say that after a while things calmed down. We stopped with them for about twenty minutes and when it was time to go, we had lots of handshakes and hugs. I was in my sixties at the time, and I was with two ladies in their seventies.

I truthfully do not know how many times I have walked in the middle of fights, but prayer can overcome fear. We are out again this Friday, we just trust in the Lord and go.

I know that prayer will not always prevent me from getting hurt, but trust in our Lord gives me a peace that is beyond my understanding.
 
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Eric_Hyom said:
but prayer can overcome fear…
…we just trust in the Lord and go.

I know that prayer will not always prevent me from getting hurt, but trust in our Lord gives me a peace that is beyond my understanding.
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Some more wisdom that was shared with me:

Trust no one, but God.
Let go, and let God.
To love God is to know God. So get to know Him, read the gospels. Then read them again.
God is everywhere. Everywhere.
 
There may be other ways.
What I recommend is “begin in little ways” (how many saints have reminded us of little things and little ways?)

Begin with brief “acts of faith”…short aspirations to God, chatter really, on the virtue you want help with.

“Lord, that I may see”.
“Jesus, I trust in You”.
“Mary, Guide me”.
"Father, thank you for taking care of me (or thank You for taking care of this for me).
“Abba, you’re taking care of me…”
“Just as You wish”
“I’m sure of You…”
“Let’s do this together”
“I’m turning to You”.

20 times a day spread out…hundred times a day…more. Don’t sweat the number. Very often! Whatever is needed to stir up the closer unity we need to have in order to fully and completely live out our faith.

In the evening…take 2-3 minutes and reflect on your day, with God.

“Lord, where did I trust You more today? (go over your day quickly)…Thank You.
Lord, where did I not trust You so much…I’m sorry.
Lord, where should I trust You more tomorrow…Help me more.
Good night, my loving Father God.”
 
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Writer_for_God said:
I don’t seem to know how to trust God. I have been taught how to worry about absolutely everything but not how to trust God in anything. How do I remedy this?
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I also struggle with worrying. Detachment is difficult. I squeeze life way too tightly. My problems and struggles become my whole identity.

This talk from Bp Barron helped me a lot. Especially the first two sections on pride and envy. It cause me to see that I am preoccupied with my performance and status (even spiritual status), and so trust becomes impossible. I hope it helps. It helped me to lighten my grip on life and trust.

 
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