My eyes squeezed tight, my palms were clinched into a fist, and my arms stretched as far as they could to the left and to the right. My heart raced and my breaths were shallow. A person stood behind me and I trusted them as a person but I wasn't quite sure if I could trust them to catch me. My peers cheered loudly to encourage me that I could do it...I could fall backwards into the persons arms. "Don't worry he will catch you," they comforted. I took a deep breath as I let one last doubt leave my mind, and then I allowed my body to drift backwards dropping for a second before the arms from behind caught me...
The trust fall.
Most of us, if not all of us have played the game in one way or another in our lifetime. We remember the nervousness we felt when we volunteered to play, the butterflies in our stomach when we let our bodies fall backwards, and the "thank you Jesus" thoughts that rushed into our minds along with the relief which filled our tense filled bodies when the person actually caught us. The trust fall isn't easy but it is a test to see how much we really do trust the person behind to catch us.
I remember one way I played the trust fall game and it was in my youth group growing up. We did the trust fall in stages. The first time we fell backwards the person was super close to us...it was easy to trust. However, after we fell backwards and the person successfully caught us, the person behind us would take a step backwards to create more of a distance between us and them...not so easy to trust.
Lately, the Lord has been challenging me with the question, "Do you trust me?" My answer is always, "Well, of course I do Lord." Well, this morning when we had this exchange He asked me an additional questions after my response and the question was, "Well, then why do you keep creating space between us?" I was confused at first but then He gently reminded me of this truth...
If God and I were playing the "trust fall" game then God would obviously be the person standing behind me to catch me every time I fell. But unlike the game I played as a kid and the person behind me moved...God doesn't move. God is always the same yesterday, today, and forever. BUT I MOVE. This morning He reminded me that I take steps away from Him as I allow things in my life to CREATE SPACE between us. I allow worrisome thoughts, fears of the future, and selfish ambitions (I could go on for days on the amount of things I choose to create distance between God and I) to creep in; and every time I do this I take a steps away from God's PEACE, CONFIDENCE, and the comfort in knowing that HE SUPPLIES ALL OF MY NEEDS. I make it harder to trust Him by creating space not Him.
When the Lord shared that with me today it was a huge comfort AND challenge. The comfort in the reminder that He will never leave me, nor forsake me...HE doesn't move! The challenge in paying more attention to my thoughts, actions, and attitude that cause me to take steps away of all that God offers to me when I stick closely to HIm. He is PEACE. He is COMFORT. He is SUFFICIENT.
GOD DOESN'T MOVE!
I MOVE!
HAVE YOU MOVED?
What thoughts fill your mind?
How are you only thinking of yourself?
How do your actions reveal your trust or distrust in Him?
How much space is in between you and the Creator of the Universe right now?
DO YOU TRUST HIM?
Friends, challenge yourself this week and ask yourself these questions!
The beautiful thing about our Father in Heaven is that He is always waiting for us to run back to Him!
There is grace and freedom in His arms!
DRAW CLOSE TO HIM AND FALL INTO THEM!
Psalm 9: 10, "Those who know your name trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you."