S10.08 | Cultivating Trust in God Amidst Life's Challenges
In this episode, Carla delves into the topic of trust, particularly how we cultivate trust in God during challenging times. Drawing from her discussions with clients facing mental health struggles and tough circumstances, Carla explores the difference between faith and trust, emphasizing that trust is built through knowledge and experience.
She encourages listeners to deepen their understanding of God's character through His Word, prayer, and by creating a personal history of God's faithfulness. As Carla navigates her own health challenges, she inspires us to meet God in our struggles and choose to trust His revealed character. Join Carla as she offers insights and practical advice to help you nurture your trust in God and experience His presence in your life.
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Key Takeaways
Understanding Trust vs. Faith:
Trust is distinct from faith; while faith involves hoping for what is unseen, trust is built through knowledge and experiences with God's character.
The Role of Experience in Building Trust :
Just like we build trust with people through repeated positive experiences, we build trust in God by observing how He has been faithful in our lives and through His Word.
Importance of Scripture:
Regular engagement with the Bible is crucial for cultivating trust in God. Carla emphasizes the necessity of studying God’s Word to know Him better.
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Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
5 Tips for Overcoming a Negative Body Image
Who You Say I Am Biblical Affirmation Cards
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey, friends. Welcome to Affirming Truths. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith, and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. I am so glad you're here.
Carla Arges [00:00:32]:
Let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:36]:
Hello, friends. Welcome to this episode of Affirming Truth. I am your host, Carla, and I am showing up today fully trusting God to carry my voice and my lug capacity through this recording. If you caught last week's episode, you know, I'm struggling a little bit in the health department, but we are trusting God. And that actually leads me to today's topic, All About Trust. You know, it's interesting, in the last couple of months, I've had a few clients ask me, how do I trust God? How do I cultivate trust in God? And that's such a good question, right? These are clients that are struggling with their mental health, struggling through tough times. And I'm sure you can relate to that. I'm sure you can relate to struggling in wondering, where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Is it coming? Will I ever overcome this? Will I ever move from surviving to thriving? Will I see the goodness of God in the land of the living? How can I trust that when everything around me seems to point to the opposite? And I just really wanted to have a frank discussion about this.
Carla Arges [00:01:59]:
You know, trust isn't the same as faith. Faith, we know, is the hope of things not seen, right? Faith is what we hope for, even when we don't see things we have faith. Trust, on the other hand, is developed through knowledge and experience. Trust is a byproduct of the experiential and the knowledge, right? Like we trust our doctors because they have evidence of going to medical school and that they have had teaching and education that equips them and makes them an expert in the field, right? We trust our hairdresser over and over again because she's given us good cuts and good color. We trust her handiwork. We trust her with our hair. That's why we're, we're not quick to change our hair stylist, right? Once you find a good one that you trust, you stick with her. You trust her because of the experience you've had with her.
Carla Arges [00:03:13]:
Trust. Trust is really experiential and looking at the knowledge base. So how do we cultivate trust? In God. How do we cultivate trust in God? Especially when everything looks like it's falling apart? And this is where we really have to lean into knowing who God is. I trust my husband because of the character he has displayed and for always showing up when I need him. God is very much like that. We learn about God's character in His Word time and time and time again. We see God's love and care and mercy and justice and grace over and over, from Genesis to Revelation.
Carla Arges [00:04:11]:
We see God working on our behalf. We see God working things out for good even when they seem like they're falling apart. We see God's master plan of salvation come to life, and we are living in it right now. We have evidence of God and His character and his steadfastness and his faithfulness in His Word. But we also have lived experience. And sometimes our eyes are so fixed on our circumstance that we miss seeing the fingerprints of God all over our life. Look at where you are today. You have overcome every hard day that you have faced.
Carla Arges [00:05:05]:
Have you done it in your own strength, friend? You haven't. You haven't done it in your own strength. You have overcome every obstacle the enemy has put in your path so far. Have you done it on your own? No. It's God at work. It's God at work. And so you may now be facing another obstacle. You may now be facing another struggle.
Carla Arges [00:05:34]:
And you may be saying, God, where are you? I don't see you. All I see is dark. All I see is hard. What do we know to be true? We know that the Word is true. And we know that he is with us and that he walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. That we need not fear evil. We can trust God's revealed character. Now here's the question, friend.
Carla Arges [00:06:01]:
Do you know his revealed character? Are you in the Word? Are you studying the Bible? That is God's chosen way to reveal Himself to us, to make Himself known to us so that we can build that trust. Are you going in, into the Word? You can't just have devotions. You can't just have worship music. Those are great and important, yes, but you need the bread of life. You need the living Word. You need that implanted in you so that when the whole hard stuff comes, the Holy Spirit has access to all the words that you have planted in your heart to encourage you and inspire you and build you up. If you don't have the Word in you, what is the Holy Spirit going to access in you? If you don't have the Word in you. How do you know who God is? And I know studying the Bible can be overwhelming.
Carla Arges [00:07:13]:
I know that. I hear that from women. That's why I created Bible Study 101, the course. You can get it on my website. Four modules, easy peasy. It takes the pressure and the. The unknown and the fear at a studying the Bible. Go check it out.
Carla Arges [00:07:31]:
But you have to study the Bible. How can you trust God otherwise? When it comes to your spouse, you didn't trust him on the first date. You got to know him. You got to get to know God through the Bible, through spending quality time with him in prayer. You've got to get to know God, right? You're not going to trust a stranger with your kids, but you'll trust someone that you know, that you have history with. Get to know God. He's there. And.
Carla Arges [00:08:13]:
And there is no excuse. And I say that in love. And I say that even to my friends who like me, suffer from depression, who struggle to get out of bed, who struggle with brain fog, who struggle with focus. I say that even to you in love. There is no excuse not to get into the Word. It doesn't have to look like hours of studying. It doesn't have to look like going into the Hebrew and Greek. Although I find that fascinating and interesting, it can be.
Carla Arges [00:08:51]:
Holy Spirit, with what I have right now, reveal God to me in a fresh and new way. And reading one or two verses, pick a book of the Bible. Start in the Psalms, start in John if you want to get to know Jesus. And day by day, verse by verse, ask the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your understanding. And he will. He answers those prayers a hundred percent of the time. So there is no excuse.
Carla Arges [00:09:28]:
There really isn't. And again, I say that in love because I know I have been there in the depths of depression where it felt like I couldn't open my Bible, where I just felt like I couldn't do it. Open the Bible app on your phone, read one verse, let that verse penetrate into your soul and allow the Holy Spirit to use it to encourage you, to help pull you out of your depression so you have more capacity to get to know God. You can't trust someone you don't know. Trust is experiential. Get to know God through His word. Start prayer journaling. Start keeping a journal of all the ways God shows up.
Carla Arges [00:10:20]:
Create your own historical context. Here I pray journal and I can go back, journals back and see, wow, this is what I was praying for. And look at how God showed up. I can go back and be like, wow, here is where I was really struggling and pouring my heart out to God and not knowing where he was or where he was going to show up. But look at the evidence of what he's done in my life. Create your own historical track record of how God is showing up so that you can encourage your heart to trust in the hard spots. When circumstances feel overwhelming, when there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. It's there.
Carla Arges [00:11:10]:
It's there. Grab hold of how God wants to reveal Himself to you. Grab hold of how God wants to lean into relationship with you. He is courting you. Will you meet Him? Will you get to know Him? Will you invite him in in a fresh way? That is how you build trust. That is how you cultivate trust. And my affirming truth for you today is I choose. I choose to trust in the revealed character of Christ.
Carla Arges [00:11:50]:
And in Psalms 9, 10 it says, and those who know your name put their trust in you. In you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. How do they put their trust in God? Who puts their trust in God? Why do they put their trust in God? Because they know his name. They know him. And they have seen that they have not been forsaken. They have experienced God. Lean into experiencing him today, starting in the Scriptures, creating your own life history of God showing up for you.
Carla Arges [00:12:33]:
And then watch as your trust blooms and blossoms. I'll talk to you next time.
Carla Arges [00:12:48]:
Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media. Yeah, but for not, come find me on Instagram at Carla Argiz or at Affirming Truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye, friends.