How to Trust God in Difficult Times: 4 Ways
It’s a bitter winter evening, snow falling like a white veil, when I realize that I need to let myself feel the disappointment I’ve been running from. Not long ago, a dream fell apart, and I decided it would be best to pretend I never cared about the dream. Perhaps facing my true feelings on this brisk winter evening will help me learn how to trust God in difficult times.
To be honest, ignoring the pain seemed easier than dealing with disappointment directly.
Most of us know all about this kind of false resilience. We say we’re rolling with the punches and bouncing back, but what we’re really doing is running from our disappointment.
I’ve run from all kinds of disappointments.
I pretended it didn’t matter when the dream died, the job didn’t work out, and the step of faith was met with a closed door.
As I walk beneath the falling ivory, I decide it’s time to let myself feel this most recent setback. I face the feelings, and I confess my dismay that God’s plans aren’t matching mine.
How to Trust God in Difficult Times
I think of the disciple Peter as I walk.
After denying Jesus three times, Peter weeps bitter tears.
We don’t know if he ran from the pain that went with his betrayal, but I’m guessing that his heart ached as he looked back with regret. most likely, his grief was threaded with distress over everything that went wrong at the very end.
Shortly after Peter’s betrayal, we catch up with him as he sits with Jesus over a breakfast of fish beside a smoldering fire.
Three times, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Peter affirms his love. Jesus restores him and commissions him to lead others in the faith.
It seems Jesus knew something Peter did not know. Jesus knew that Peter’s denials would bring to light a part of Peter’s heart that needed to change before he could lead others.
In the same way, Jesus knows the parts of our hearts that need to come into the light so that he can remove our stumbling blocks.
Learning How to Trust God in Difficult Times
As I consider my pain on the snowy road, I ponder what it might look like to be real about what I’m feeling.
While I mostly want to run from this discomfort, God is using my pain to show me what he wants to bring to light so that he can remove it.
On this winter day, he shows me that he wants to use this pain to teach me to release my sense of control over my future and trust him to carve the path before me. He shows me that my life is not too much for him to handle and that his hand has been upon me all the while.
God wants to speak truth into your painful seasons as well.
He is calling you to face your pain instead of running from it. Running from your pain might even be the very behavior that is blocking you from your breakthrough.
How to Trust God in Difficult Times:
Let’s look at four ways God leads us to deal with our disappointment so that we might grow in trust.
1. We learn how to trust God in difficult times by being honest about our emotions.
Growing in trust begins with being real.
Psychologists suggest naming our emotions as a first step to calming our limbic systems. By naming our troubling emotions in God’s presence, we do more than just calm our nervous systems. We also create space for God to begin healing our hearts.
For me, this often looks like admitting that I’m grieving a loss, facing disappointment, or dealing with fear. Telling God exactly how I’m feeling is the first step toward growing in trust.
2. We move toward trust when we ask God to help us explore our emotions with curiosity.
After naming our emotions in God’s presence, we grow in trust by approaching these emotions with compassion and curiosity. God wants to show us what is beneath our troubling emotions.
During difficult times, God invites us to bring our emotions to him and ask hard questions about our circumstances.
For example:
What is causing this onslaught of emotions?
Are there roots beneath these emotions?
Have I believed any lies that are leading me to distress?
What does God want me to know about trusting him?
3. We ask God to help us trust him with what we cannot understand.
We all face times when trusting God doesn’t come easily. During these times, we grow in trust by being honest with God. We tell him we’re having trouble trusting him. We then ask him to help us trust him with the parts of our lives that don’t make sense to us.
God’s ways are not like our ways. They are higher than our ways.
When you don’t understand what God is doing, ask him to help you grow in trust.
4. We learn how to trust God in difficult times by leaning on him in dependence.
When life is rolling along smoothly, we begin to believe we can make it on our own.
We’re prone to turn away from God and turn toward independence. Painful seasons remind us of our desperation to lean on the One who guides our paths and carries us through the rivers and the fires of life.
As we wait on God to help us trust him more, we keep pressing into him, worshiping him, and asking him to strengthen our faith. This is a work only God can do.
Painful seasons remind us of our desperation to lean on the One who guides our paths and carries us through the rivers and the fires of life. #Godusespain #dealingwithdisappointment Share on X~~~
I walk through the falling snow until darkness comes. When I return to the house, I wish I could say my heart feels lighter.
It doesn’t.
Dealing with disappointment hurts. It’s harder than pushing the pain aside and barreling forward with both eyes on the horizon. It’s also worth every painful step of the journey. I’m determined to keep going. There’s a breakthrough waiting on the other side of winter’s white veil.
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