<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Strong Tower Radio

Balanced Living

Bob Benson

Vicki Griffin

Life After Loss Part 1

Creating Connections Part 1

Creating Connections Part 2

Wes Peppers

Engineered For Success

Evelyn Kissinger

Health In a Hurry Part 1

Health in a Hurry Part 2

Hearts on Fire Part 1

The Buzz on Beverages Part 1

The Buzz on Beverages Part 2

The Entertainment Trap

These Doctors Still Make House Calls Part 1

These Doctors Still Make House Calls Part 2

Ron Kelly

Super Foods That Fight Cancer Part 1

Super Foods That Fight Cancer Part 2

Who Can I Trust? Part 1

Who Can I Trust? Part 2

Life After Loss Part 2

Alcohol: Why Not? Part 1

Exercise, It Goes to Your Head Part 1

Exercise, It Goes to Your Head Part 2

Healthy Weight Helps

Hearts on Fire Part 2

Ron Kelly, and my guest is Vicki Griffin.

Today we're talking about trust and how it affects us.

We're starting to discover that not only is this a benefit that grows out of helpful relationships with each other, but it also relates and finds its foundation in a great relationship with God.

And really, we have learned through experience and through ministry that the ability to trust in a broken, torn world comes from God.

And it's really his character that shows us how to forgive and reestablish trust when it's been broken.

So trust comes from receiving forgiveness and love from God and learning how to forgive and love ourselves, forgive and love others.

And as a counselor, you have seen this in practice over and over again.

It's a beautiful thing to have the ability to have a new beginning, to start fresh, to start clean, to know you're not rejected.

Yes, and it's wonderful to know that there is such a big difference between mercy and sympathy.

So sympathy we feel for someone or with someone, but mercy has power.

When God shows us mercy, that means he's got power.

So that means he's giving me something that I don't deserve, and he's keeping something from me that I do deserve.

And he calls us to show that kind of mercy to others.

And again, let's not mistake this for abuse.

Let's not mistake it for an unwise, unhealthy vulnerability.

And this mindset produces an internal joy that is not dependent on things or people or circumstances.

The Bible says, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Yeah, this joy is really something that builds out of a growing confidence in this steadiness in the very person of God that lets us ride through the rough times.

Well, it's certainly not giddy sentimentalism, and there's plenty to be upset about every single day.

But I think of the words about Christ where it says, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross.

So our faith is not grounded in a bubble where we get everything we want and everything is easy, but it's grounded in hope that God has the power, He has the promises, and He has a plan, both when things are good and in sorrow and in sadness.

Yes, and knowing that He loves us so much is the foundation of that hope.

And what I'm finding over time is that the worst times of my life is when he's developing inner strength.

And I've had to confront this in my own life, that you're only young once, but you can be immature forever.

And God is really calling us to start to grow and mature in His strength, exchanging our wishbone for backbone.

David Well, you know, God's calling us into a relationship where we don't have to be worried all the time.

As a matter of fact, having confidence in Him, we can make our requests known to God.

We're not supposed to be anxious about anything.

We have the privilege of being children with a faithful Father.

Well, the Bible tells us, it is so true what you're saying.

It says, in nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And this kind of anxiety that he's calling us away from really has not very much to do with feeling.

I'm sure that when Daniel was thrown in the lion's den, his heart was beating fast.

When Esther stood before the king, she said, if I perish, I perish.

The Bible says, David the psalmist said, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

So we tend to be anxious about everything, even though we're instructed to be anxious about nothing.

So Elizabeth Elliot, whose missionary husband was murdered in the mission field describes how anxiety and faith are put to the test when someone is gravely ill that I love, something I want has been denied, something I have worked hard for has failed, something I prized is lost.

And I think about this clash of faith and feelings in the words of David when he cries to God and he says, I will pray to the God of my life.

He has this confidence to actually be able to approach Him in confidence even with his complaints.

Don't you love the song that says, In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief and oft escaped the tempter's snare by thy return.

In every measure of anxiety, in every trial, in every circumstance, there's a measure of temptation.

We're tempted to give up, we're tempted to bitterness, and the Bible warns us about that root of bitterness, and we're tempted to fail and to be discouraged and to crash and burn and to go get that pizza or that apple fritter or that porn site or whatever it is that we default to when we are weak.

But the Lord says to declare, let the weak say, I am strong.

And there's nothing like being able to talk to somebody who understands you even when you can't put your words or your thoughts into words.

Sometimes we need others to be strength for us.

And the Bible says, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard us.

It will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

It's just a little saying and it communicates a similar thought And it's 1 we have to practice.

Build a little fence of trust around today.

Fill the space with loving deeds and therein stay.

Look not through its protective bars upon tomorrow.

God will help you bear what comes of joy or sorrow.

You know, difficult times are going to come to everybody because there is sin.

Life isn't easy or fair, but Jesus does tell us in this world when we have trials that we don't have to be afraid.

God's transforming power to face the ups and downs of life is just remarkable.

And learning trust is like learning to walk as a toddler.

Trusting God changes every part of your life, attitudes, and actions, even if the circumstance does not change.

So he also tells us to be of good cheer because he's overcome the world and he has come to heal the brokenhearted.

You know, when I lost my husband Dane, people would speak to me sometimes, not intentionally, that carrying grief is something like they're going to help you get over the flu.

The Bible says of Jesus that he carries our griefs and our sorrows.

And so it is something that we manage through life.

Grief comes and we manage it and it enlarges our hearts.

It makes us more able to participate with other people.

It develops in us virtues that perhaps would not be manifest.

And only God can give us the courage to manage the grief of life in a way that builds instead of tears down.

Someday we'll share His throne because He suffered like we've suffered.

And the scope of empathy and sympathy is huge.

It says in all our afflictions, he is afflicted.

He uses these things to build us and it's an inside job that goes far beyond psychological platitudes, sayings, and positive thinking, and some kind of discipline.

It's actually an inner transformation that leads to new strength, new desires, new attitudes and actions.

So we have to learn, and I am learning and have learned and will continue to learn that God is good.

It believes that God is good, He means to do you good, and He will turn negative life experiences into blessings.

This trust is the root joy of growth and peace.

Yeah, and you know, Vicki, learning to see people like God sees them through the eyes of love, to where you don't see evil and suspicion in people, actually grows trust and peace in your own heart, too.

Back to Menu

Series

Balanced Living

Who Can I Trust? Part 2

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Heart Transplant

58m

Rest and Relationship

33m

A Slave's Redemption

A Slave’s Redemption Part 2

24m

The Parables

The Two Sons

40m

Wilderness Wandering

Sanctuary

42m

Life To It's Fullest

The Right Destination

27m

Look Up and Live

The Healer and Restorer

41m

Infidelity: A Moral Crisis Amid the Pandemic

58m

An Outworking of His Will, How?- Part 2

55m

Restoration 2025: Revelation of Healing

07 Understanding Faith

43m

Sanctuary, Salvation & Our Savior

Sanctuary, Salvation and Our Savior: Cleansed at the Laver

32m

Sound Doctrine