Trust in God

I read the following in a book I am working through (Overcoming Sinful Anger, Rev. T. G. Morrow): "He [that is God] told St. Maria Faustina (the divine mercy saint) The graces of my mercy are drawn by one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive. Souls that trust boundlessly are a great comfort to me, because I pour all the treasures of my grace into them. He also told her Sins of distrust wound me most painfully."

As I became more successful in controlling my lust, I recklessly asked God to show me what more I should work on. He did show me, albeit painfully, that I need to learn humility and thereby control my temper. Since then, I have been trying to pray the Litany of Humility, each day and I also purchased this book. By coincidence (then again probably not), I have also been listening to a book on tape while I work entitled "Mother Teresa, In Her Own Words". This book points out how Mother Teresa had complete trust in God. Every challenge to her was met with "God will provide". She was also known to be full of joy and good humor. I want these things too!

 

I am a very fortunate person by any standard modern society might apply, whether it be earthly rewards or spiritual ones. I recently retired from a highly compensated and exciting career at the top of my industry. I have a wonderful marriage with three children and three grandchildren. It would be tempting (and blindly arrogant) to say that I achieved these things through intensive study, hard work and perseverance because that would only be a small part of the truth. It would also be a complete lie to say that what I have achieved is exactly what I set out to do.

The dream career I wanted as a youth was never realized; the Lord led me to an even better one. The relationships with women I thought would make me happy never materialized; I was led to a far, far better one. So many times during my life, I felt that there was a specific outcome I needed to resolve a difficult situation (and there have been many very difficult situations) and I recall praying intently, desperately, for the outcome I wanted. Ultimately, I was given a far better outcome on a different route than I had even considered. Equally, I can see all of the worry I poured into each situation was a debilitating waste of energy.

When I remember that God is the being that engineered the entire universe, how can I be anything but humbled by what He has done? My minuscule human intellect can conceive of only so many intricate moves on the chess board but Our Precious Lord can see them all. Perhaps most incredible is the quality of mercy Our Lord has shown me. No human would tolerate the thousands of offenses that I have committed against God and then show me love, mercy and forgiveness. God's form of love is truly divine. No human could muster the same.
So, when I consider the incredible superiority of God's mind to mine, I find the inspiration to realize trusting in Him, rather than trusting in myself, is infinitely wiser and it always works out better without the debilitating worry.

I wish I could say that I remember this in every instance that troubles me but that too would be a lie. Nevertheless, when I stop and think about my life's difficult challenges, both big and small, I can see He always has a plan and more often than not, it isn't the one I would have predicted.