C.S. Lewis once said “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him.” The same could be said about trusting God, I think. Every time a situation in my life would arise which produced anxiety or fear, instead of asking whether I trusted God to take care of it or not, I’d take a deep breath and say aloud “I trust you, Jesus.”
I didn’t always mean it. But I’d say those words however I could, and then I’d try to let go of that particular anxiety for that particular moment.
And over time I came to see that God was indeed dealing with those things, turning my uncertainty into discerned vision, my foiled plans into new creations exceeding my imagination. The burden of contentious relationships was lifted as I surrendered that which had never been in my control.
I discovered that God is good enough to turn my fake trust genuine.
This message is adapted from “Faking trust” written by Collette Broady that first appeared in the August 2014 issue of Café magazine.