Day 7: Trust

TRUST in the Lord with ALL thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

When fighting in the military, you can only have one Commander. If you had more than one, it would be utter chaos and a massacre would surely be the end result. The same goes for us spiritually. We need only one Commander and God fits that bill to a “T.” Why then can we not trust Him to get us through our battles?

Trust means “to be supported by something or someone else; firm belief in the reliability of someone else; confident   expectation.” There are so many great verses on trust in the Bible that it was hard to choose which one to use today … even though I would love to use more than one! Even if I were to use them all, what I want us to see clearly today is the one prominent thread that ties all of these verses on trust together … and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is like the glue that holds everything together.

Have you ever built something and very meticulously worked hour after hour after hour to get all the pieces together, even down to the smallest one, and then with one small accidental bump have it all come tumbling down? Why? Because you forgot to glue it together as you went.

Is there not a lesson to be learned here? How many times in our personal lives and our spiritual lives we have spent hours, days, weeks, months and even years sometimes trying to “put” our lives (and even the lives of others around us) altogether, yet, in the end to just have it all come crumbling down around us? We forgot that we are human. We are fallible. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. Are you with me here?

Sadly, oftentimes this is when we finally look to God. Oh, He has been standing there patiently waiting and watching you as you struggled and struggled through life. But, He was waiting for you to finally clearly see that it was not you who could be trusted, but HIM!

Why is it so hard for us to TRUST God? Has He not promised? Has He not proven? Has He not provided? Has He not      protected? Whatever your reason or reasons for not TRUSTING Him, may you set those all aside and wholly and           completely TRUST Him today! Don’t be like the story about the mountain climber who fell and his rope caught him but due to the heavy darkness and fog, he wasn’t able to see where he was and he cried out repeatedly to God to save him. God put him to the ultimate test in trust and told him, “If you trust in Me, cut the rope!” “Whoa! But, God, you don’t   understand where I’m at! I’m hanging here off this cliff and I am going to die if you don’t save me!” the man cried. God repeated Himself and said, “Cut the rope!” The man again refused and was found frozen to death the following morning hanging there with a death grip on the rope … two feet from the ground!”

What is holding you back? What is it going to take for you to see that God is the ONLY one whom we can fully TRUST in? Do not be like that mountain climber so close to victory, but continue to stubbornly refuse to trust God … and end up dying there stuck in that place. TRUST HIM TODAY, RIGHT NOW!! CUT THE ROPE!!

Portraits of Grace – Rebecca Cultrara

My name is Rebecca Cultrara. I have been a wife for 30 years, a mom for 29 years, a teacher for 10 years, librarian for 6 years and a Pastor’s wife for 12 years. I live in Frewsburg, NY with my husband and oldest son. My two younger sons have autism and live in group homes in the Buffalo area.

My life as a wife began on July 30, 1988. This was a journey I could never imagine being on when I was younger. As any girl dreams, I wanted to get married and have a family. I had no idea my family would not be like I had imagined. God blessed us with 3 wonderful sons. We would learn a few years later our middle son had autism. That took us on a new journey into the world of autism. This was something we had not planned on. Neither did we plan it when your youngest son was also diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old. His diagnosis came a couple of years after his other health issues. I knew we had not planned to have special needs children. God planned it. We were chosen to parent these special guys.

I look back over our lives while the boys were growing up and I realize, even though it was hard at times, I wouldn’t change a thing. We dealt with our middle sons’ bolting which led me to putting a twin bed in their room and a lock on the door. I couldn’t sleep unless I was in their room. This continued for 6 years. The boys lack of fear was fear of mine. My youngest (he was 3) got outside when my oldest went to get something out of the car for his dad. I chased my baby down the sidewalk towards a busy street. He was laughing and I was praying he wouldn’t get hit by a car. Just as he got to the intersection, out of no where a man jumps off his bike and grabs my son and puts him in my arms. I cried and hugged my baby and when I looked up he was gone. If you ask me, I’d say he was an angel.

My sons’ disabilites never kept us from serving the Lord. My husband and I worked at a Christian school for many years. We both taught and he was also the principal. It wasn’t long before he felt the call to be a pastor. Finding the right place wasn’t easy. Some places weren’t accepting of our sons. We even had a friend of ours tell us, as long as we had the boys at home, my husband would never pastor. He was so wrong. God brought us to Frewsburg. The people here fell in love with our sons and welcomed us with open arms.

I was asked once if I ever asked “Why God?” Why me? My answer, Nope. I know God gave me my sons for a very special reason and my job is not to ask why but to give them all the love in world I can. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They are my world. I am on Facebook and part of pages that deal with autism. Its amazing how many moms I have been able to help, because I have gone through what they are going through now. My sons are now 22 and 26. We have been on a new journey in the world of adult autism. We don’t know what the future holds, but for now we are keeping the faith and trusting God to continue to guide us through our journey.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6