Trusting God In The Face Of Uncertainty
Have you ever felt like trusting God in the face of uncertainty was easier said than done? If you have, then you are in good company because I often feel the same way. When different things arise in my life where I feel a weight of uncertainty, there’s always a mental battle that I go through between telling myself to “trust God” and completely having anxiety over the uncertainty of it all.
Take, for example, there’s talk about your company closing its stores. You are now in the face of uncertainty on whether or not you will still have a job. For me, this mental process goes a lot like this: “Okay God, I don’t know what you are doing but I trust that it will be good”. And then goes to “I literally have no idea what I am going to do if I lose my job. Again. I’m completely freaking out!”. To more of “Sigh. God, this is really difficult for me. I know I said I trust you, but admittedly this is hard, and I am really scared about what’s next. I feel like I’ve been around the block with jobs lately and need some reassurance that everything’s gonna be okay”. I’m still learning daily what it means and looks like to trust God in the face of uncertainty.
Most of the time when we face uncertainty, our immediate response is to completely freak out. I think in some ways I’ve taught myself to not freak out initially, but then anxiety still gets the best of me. Having anxiety is something I’m not thrilled about, but learning to “let go and let God” is a daily process. One that doesn’t see immediate results, but requires a lot of time and effort.
Sometimes I think that God allows uncertainty in our lives because it makes us pause and reflect. When things are going smoothly for us, we often don’t think of anyone or anything except ourselves and just continue on in our lives like nothing can get us down. Until it does. I would know, because I do this all the time. When uncertainty comes, it forces our pride down a couple notches. We suddenly realize that we truly can’t control our circumstances, but are keenly aware of the One who does.
When I lost my favorite job a year and a half ago, I was left with a lot of uncertainty and anxiety about what came next. I bounced between two different jobs in the span of about 9 months and suffered an additional job loss during that time. For about 5 months, I went without a job due to acute depression. God opened the door for me to finally transfer to another store with my favorite company in October of last year and I was so so grateful.
A little over a week ago, more news of uncertainty came and devastated my fragile heart. This time around, I have learned even more about what trusting God in the midst of uncertainty looks like. It is still being afraid, but jumping anyways. It’s knowing that even though I am scared, I can still trust that God has a plan. More than these, it’s being content with the things God is doing, even when I don’t understand their purpose.
If you are facing uncertainty like I am, just remember this: No matter what uncertainties we face in this life, we can be confident that God is trustworthy and His plans have purpose even when we can’t see the whole picture. Trusting God in the midst of uncertainty is difficult, but it can also be rewarding and freeing. Maybe one day all of us will better learn how to do just that, but for now we embrace the learning process.
