I am not sure if you believe in God or not. Or maybe I should say I am not sure if you trust in God or not because I think lots of people claim to believe in God, but our lives do not reflect trust in God.

I have believed in God since I was a child. It was only in the last 5-6 years that I have learned to trust Him.

I used to live with low grade worry and stress about any number of things in my life at any given time. I used to be worried about what other people thought of me and if I was measuring up to their standards. I used to feel responsible for how other people felt and often let their emotions dictate my emotions. I used to not like me. I thought I messed up most of the time and was sure God, and others, were always disappointed in me. I wondered how could God love me when I made so many mistakes.

Five or six years ago I got tired of living that way and went on a quest to discover a better way. I sought wise counsel. I read books and listened to podcasts. I watched videos of godly teachers. I cried out to God for help. Thankfully as I took what I was learning and started implementing it in my life, slowly with time, I began to change.

I learned that I am the voice in my head, and I can choose the thoughts I allow to ruminate in my mind. I realized that I was allowing a negative thought loop to play on repeat in my head. I had things that people had said to me over the years that just played like a tape. It was hard to believe the Truth of God when I was constantly telling myself I bad story about me.

I began to recognize the power of the Holy Spirit in me available to help me at any time. I practiced trusting and believing that God loves me no matter what. I practiced trusting and believing that He is in control of all things. I practiced trusting and believing that He is working for my good in all things. This is an on-going process. I am constantly working on building my faith muscle. It is a journey I will always be on in this life somedays I am better at it than others.

Another thing I have learned along the way is to be self-compassionate and to accept my humanness. I used to beat myself up for messing up or being emotional or whatever, but now I have learned to accept that mistakes are part of being human. I will not always get it right. No one will. And we enjoy life so much more when we accept this truth about ourselves and others.

I had a day where I had to practice accepting my humanness and the humanness of others. A day where someone close to me was disappointed in my decision making, which caused me to doubt myself and fall into allowing some old negative thought loops to play. I felt judged. I felt I was not good enough. Because I of thoughts I was thinking about the situation. Then there was the discovery of an illness someone had which could impact a situation I am connected to, and I had no backup plan. My brain offered me thoughts that caused me to feel unprepared. Also at work, there was concern about materials, and pricing, and units sold this year. Doubts, fears, insecurities, more old negative, worrying thought loops played in my mind. A day when my son woke up sick and I wonder is it just a cold or something worse like the flu. A day when my sweet puppy dog was being neutered and I worry how he’ll do, and how we will keep him calm. And. And. And. Life. Throughout the day my brain was offering me the thoughts like, “this is a lot to figure out.” My brain offered, “life is hard.” “I keep trying but feel like I’m not getting anywhere,” “Is the effort worth it.” It said, “you don’t make good decisions.” It said, “you should be stressed and weary.” That evening I was tired. I felt overwhelmed.

Thankfully the following morning I listened to my favorite Christmas song this year, Matt Maher’s version of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. A line in the song says, “Take heart, oh weary soul, take heart, For help is on its way.” The song reminded me that God is in control. I choose to intentionally remind myself of what I have learned along the way, this is all part of it. All shall be well eventually. And me stressing about it helps no one and makes me and those around me miserable.

Jesus came to bring hope to our weary world, so we don’t have to live stressed and be weary.

I reminded myself that it is totally normal to get momentarily stressed by life, but I do not live that way anymore. I trust God is working for my good in all my circumstances and situations. I remembered to cast all my cares on Him by turning everything over to Him in prayer. I remembered that I could accept whatever comes my way knowing that He is good and that He will provide whatever I need in His perfect timing.

It takes intentional effort to think a new way. It is work to focus and refocus on Truth. Sometimes moment by moment. It is simple what we must do, manage our mind, renew our mind on God’s Truth, but it is not easy. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. Life is better when we live this Way.

I know God can do anything. I know He transforms. I know He provides. He has done it for me before. But even if He does not this time, I will continue to trust and praise Him. I will praise Him because I trust that He loves me, and that He is for me, and He is working all things together for my good.

We live in a world where people are often weary. Too often we allow the external circumstances of our lives to determine how we feel. But thanks be to God we do not have to live this way.

Jesus came to teach us a better Way. Jesus doesn’t just save us from hell. Jesus came to offer us heaven on earth. He came bringing hope and joy. He came to bring peace now.

I have learned that we can choose what we think about and that our thoughts determine our feelings. This takes practice. We can choose to trust and believe that God loves us. We can choose to renew our minds on His Truth that we are loved that we are enough. As we trust Him and believe in His love for us then He does a transforming work in our lives to help us love others well. We rely on His Holy Spirit in us helping us and remember that we will not get it right all the time.

When we ground ourselves in God’s truth about ourselves, we learn to be kind to ourselves and in the process kinder to others as well.

This Christmas my hope and prayer is that if you not only believe in God but that you practice trusting Him as well. My hope and prayer is that you would be open to experiences the peace and hope and joy that Jesus gives as we TRUST Him with our lives.