Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Tonya S. Swindell

Many times while waiting for an answer to prayer, I have lacked faith to receive my desired outcome. Now I’m learning how important it is to trust God all the way through my circumstances, not just part of the way through them. Ultimately the Lord wants me to walk and live by faith, not according to what I see with my natural vision.

At times I’ve been a “doubting Thomas” who had to “see it to believe it.” But Jesus said, “…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Because I have relied on my eyesight for so long, I still need help trusting God without seeing the final outcome.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

I need corrective spiritual lenses, because my ability to visualize God’s plan is severely limited. Trusting all-seeing, all-knowing God is better than depending so heavily on my human wisdom.

BeBe and CeCe Winans sing a song called “Trust Him,” which encourages listeners to trust God “all the way” and remember “He will do everything He promised He would.” The singers appeal to people for whom it is difficult to trust by singing: “He’s been longing to ask you to let go of the past, although you’ve been hurt before. ‘Cause if you’re going through it, you must trust once again.”

Jesus’ followers displayed bouts of doubt while traversing rough waters in a boat. But when they called out for help Jesus “…got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Hush, be still.’ And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?’”

Mark 5:1 describes the disciples’ final outcome saying: “And they came to the other side of the sea…” In other words, they reached their destination safely.

James Bignon & the Mass Deliverance Choir sings a gospel song called, “On the Other Side of Through.” Consistent with images created by disciples who traveled through troubling waters, the song’s lyrics encourage listeners to trust God during difficult circumstances:

“Floating on a sea of trouble,

Sorrow falling like rain from the sky,

Trodding through life’s murky waters,

Trials form the tears in your eyes.

Don’t stop;

I’m telling you

There’s a blessing on the other side of through.

The Amplified Version of Hebrews 11:1 says this: “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. And “grace” is often defined as “God’s unmerited favor.”

I believe faith, combined with God’s grace, can help me trust all the way even when I do not see what’s in front of me.

Tonya Swindell writes a blog for www.inspirenewlife.org and a teacher for Kingdom Building Equipping School (KBES.com). She can be reached at 1brightot@gmail.com.