Faith – Page 6 – Sarah Guldalian

The Weight of Trust

“I know that I can trust you… I know that I can trust you… I know that I can trust you…” These are the first three lines of a worship song I was listening to yesterday by United Pursuit, a band I love. I just had the Pandora station on rotation, but hearing these lines stopped me in my tracks.

I’m not used to saying these words. I mean, how many people can you really say that to? Some people have a hard time saying, “I love you.” I don’t. I have always loved people. I love being around them. I gain energy from them. And I love encouraging them.

I grew up in a church with pastors who, when you ran into them at the mall, even after a long time, would always tell you they love you. And they truly meant it. Their kindness showed, and it felt like love radiating through them. They were an awesome example of loving others and always letting them know.

But trust… trusting people… oh my. I have some work to do there. Clearly some healing is needed. And oddly, when you come to learn that you can’t trust people you thought you could, you lose trust in yourself. You lose trust in your own discernment. And then a wall of protection forms. The problem is, that wall keeps the good out too.

As I hear the words, “I know that I can trust you,” I stop, I listen, and I feel. And I am saddened by the baggage I bring to new relationships, that it takes me so long and such depth of interaction to even slightly trust others. I have work and healing to do there. Maybe you do too.

Trust is weighty. Trust bares the responsibility of integrity with consistency. Trust bares the weight of care, to care more about me than about the interesting conversation you could have about me for 10 minutes with someone else.

For me, trust means being safe even when you are angry. It means loving me outside of what brand I’m representing, what amount of money I make or where I choose to place it. Trust means you assume the best about me even when you hear the worst. It means being who you said you were last year this year. And so it is hard to trust because, after all, people are people, full of hurt, pain, and trust issues of their own.

I hope one day I will trust people more, that I will go deeper quicker. I believe I will because God is a healing God. And lately He has introduced me to more people who deserve to be trusted. And wow, that is a gift. It has shown me that I need to heal, and people are worth pulling my wall down for.

But the truth is, we all mess up, every single one of us. Even the saints of us sin and fall because we bare human flesh. Others will let us down… those very close to us. And we will let ourselves down. As much as we want them to be trustworthy, we too will fail. It is hard for each of us is human after all.

Yet, we can fully and wholly trust God. He always has our best in mind. He always gives. And He never changes. His love towards us never changes. When we trust Him, we will never regret it.

God always overdelivers. He always gives us more love, more abundance, forgiveness and goodness than we deserve when we put our trust in Him. No one can ever talk Him out of loving us or even liking us.

We can trust Him – fully and wholly trust Him. He will always love us. He will never leave us. He always helps us, no matter what the topic or issue, large or small. We can trust Him because He knows all, His ways are best, and He always has our best at heart.

Prayer

I come to you, Lord, trusting you with all that I am and all that I have. Sometimes it feels like very little if only a hot mess. And I need your help… to have courage to put my heart back out there without a wall around it, to trust you for wisdom and discernment and protection and healing as I do, as I seek to go deeper with others.

I know that I can trust you… I know that I can trust you… And that you will help me. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Shifting Sand

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Proverbs 19:21

What are you building your life on? What is your foundation? What are you revolving your dreams around? Where do you put your focus? Is it worth it? Is it worth a life? Is it worth your life – your time, your energy, and your fixation? The decisions we make, usually with time limitations, are based on where our focus lies.

It feels easier, clearer, and more pragmatic to make decisions based on what we see, what we can touch, what is right before us. Yet those “real,” tangible things are most breakable, most perishable, and fragile.

Grasp your glass of water or that vase on your table. Holding it brings a sense of confidence. Our skin tells our nerves to tell our brains this is real, and we feel a strange sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. Yet our skin itself, our bodies, they too, though seen, felt and tangible, are also breakable, vulnerable and one day will perish. Those things seen, that are physical, that our eyes can gaze upon, are actually most fragile, and should be trusted least.

But, ah, how tricky it is to trust and to have faith in those things we cannot touch… Yet, most solid, most reliable and trustworthy are those things our hearts and our spirits know that our skin cannot perceive: The power of God at work in our lives, the sacred bond in marriage, or with your child… These are the most reliable foundations for our lives.

Though our skin, brains and nerves trick us into believing the here-and-now, the things most obviously perceived, are most reliable, our souls, our very spirits, know the truth… that our focus, our lives, our dreams, our hearts are safest in the hands of God. And yet, His ways often feel unknown to us. The most trustworthy of marching orders, though often given just one at a time, are found in relationship and conversation with Him.

Though we seek to control the course of our lives, such as physically gripping and following a map, all things will perish but what God orders, what He commands, what He calls into being. Like a man’s footsteps wash away with the tide, so do our plans, made apart from God. Yet, no one can stop what God has planned, and why would we want to do anything outside of His will?

Trust Him today. Though you feel out of control, just putting one foot out in front of the other, we are truly safest when we make God our foundation, when we put our trust in Him and focus our lives around Him. I am reminding myself to trust today, to take one step at a time in faith, following His lead. Though I feel scared, I know there is no safer place to be than beyond myself and in His great big will for my, for our, lives.

On His Throne

Turning on the TV or powering up your device might be enough to turn your stomach these days. The culture stirring around us feels negative, even corrupt, and this contentious environment can lead us to grow disappointed, even insecure. As I have processed my own responses to these tumultuous times, I have come to identify the root of my fear. Perhaps you can relate:

When the corrupt seemingly prosper, we can believe that God allows evil to slide. And when we do that, we grow insecure, believing that sovereignty is actually with fickle, fallible humans – not God.

Have you felt yourself growing unsettled, insecure, and on edge? I want to encourage you, encourage us, not to withdrawal and hide away. Though identifying trustworthy people feels insurmountable, we were created to connect, and we need each other now more than ever. Here is why we can do so with confidence:

God will take care of it – all of it. He will not allow evil to slide. He is still on His throne. He is a just ruler. He will not allow the good to dwindle or the corrupt to prosper. Just trust, wait and watch. He is the good, just, sovereign God He has always been – better and more just than our minds can fathom.

Your life does not depend on the frailty of men. God is still in charge. Have confidence: He has the world and your situation in His hands. You have not slipped from His grasp. “The arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear” (Isaiah 59:1).

You can give the Lord your disappointment, your fear, your insecurity, and all of your burdens. He will shoulder them all and sustain you so you can live free and walk in peace.

The Bible says, “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. But you, God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you” (Psalm 55:22-23).

As for you, the righteous, you do not need to worry. He hears you, and He will not allow you to be shaken. He will sustain you. Therefore, you can carry on in peace and live your life.

As told to the exiles in Jeremiah 29:5-7, I encourage us to do today: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

The enemy uses intimidation tactics to keep us from prospering. Corruption comes from him, and he is working to rob us of blessing in our lives — the blessing of confidence, peace, and connection, with others and with God. We cannot allow him to intimidate us into a hole. Instead, we can rise up and move forward into our future with hope and with confidence, knowing the Lord is more powerful, in control, and is fighting the battle for us!

You have a choice.

To say these are challenging times feels like an understatement. This has been quite a month, and most feel its gravity, especially compounded with these past 10 months. Today I have something on my heart to share with you that seems best said. You can hear this in my video. More important, though, are the Bible verses I mention within this video.

Only the Lord can help us through these difficult times, and He is able! His track record is solid. We can trust Him. These are foundational truths from the Bible for us to stand on, giving us solid ground on which to place our feet:

1) The One who is in you – God – is greater than the evil in the world, and He has overcome them!

Verse: 1 John 4:4-6

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

2) Be at peace. Take heart. Jesus has overcome the world.

Verse: John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – Jesus

3) Because the Lord is with you and in you, you are free!

Verse: 2 Corinthians 3:17

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

4) Focus on the Lord. He is sovereign, and He is on His throne above any man or woman.

Verse: Psalm 119:45-47

“I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them.”

5) God always provides a way of escape out of temptation and trouble!

Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:13

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Remember: Though the enemy would like you to believe that your back is against the wall, you always have choices!

Starting Fresh

We all want 2021 to look different. As we prepare to enter 2021, seeking to start afresh, it is important we recognize the power we possess through our own self-management. We are not entirely powerless to that which is happening around us.

Though many things are happening to us, which are out of our control, some are, unknowingly, happening in response to our behaviors, reactions, body language or withdrawal. We have formed defense mechanisms to cope with the shock of 2020. And what we project both influences the way we are perceived and the way we are received by those around us.

As we move into a fresh, new year, with a desire for things to change, a desire to turn over a new leaf, we… you… too must personally discard the things of 2020. You must shed the dead skin – the person you became to defend yourself, or in some cases, to offend others, in response to 2020.

To get your old, healthier self back, or to realize your 2021 self, you will have to relinquish 2020 weapons that illicit 2020 responses as people respond in similar ways to similar behaviors. And, if you notice that numerous people are treating you in a similar fashion, one that you do not like, you may want to take time for self-reflection, as you have power to change what you project and how you are received.

Self-Reflection

• What are you projecting?
• What weapons did you take up in 2020?
• How can you now release them to experience more peace in 2021?

This year will be different, and it starts with each of us. Though some external factors and extenuating circumstances may remain – at least for awhile, we can change our perspective. We can change how we respond or react to people and situations. We can take a moment to pause and breath – some time to sit back and weigh the situation with a right scale. And, as a result of these personal changes, we can experience more peace and healthier relationships in the new year.

I pray for more peace and blessing for you in 2021.

No Cowards

Though I have always loved the Bible, if I’m honest, I was a little afraid to read the book of Revelation. I mean, things get really real in there. It tells us what is next. It also delivers some pretty stern warnings. Would it feel too heavy, too eternal for my finite mind? Would I understand it, know what to make of it? Would I take it out of context? Would my questions exceed others’ willingness to go there? Would I become fixated on what I read?

Well, it turns out, it is very, very good to be fixated on the Bible, if we are obsessed about anything. And more recently, at the encouragement of the pastors I work with, I have begun diving into Revelation. Whereas, before, I had barely dipped my toe in the water.

So far, what I have learned is, it is really, really important we go there… that we dive in, that we strive to understand, that we continue pondering and chewing on it, and continue asking our questions. After all, don’t we want to know what comes next after this life? Don’t we want to know what Jesus says to His bride – the church? We need to know. And it turns out that we gain great confidence in knowing.

Yesterday I read, and reread, and reread Revelation 21. So many things struck me in it — the beauty of the New Jerusalem, when Jesus comes back and inhabits the earth with us; that there will be no need for a tabernacle because God will be here with us, as our ruler; that the light there radiates from Jesus, the Lamb; and we will have no need for night or closed gates.

In all of the beauty and splendor of this chapter, a single word really stood out to me, one that is causing me to wrestle. The word is, “cowardly.”

In Revelation 21: 5-8, God, “He who was seated on the throne,” says,

“’I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’

“He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

Stunningly beautiful! He then continues and says,

“‘But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

What? The cowardly were lumped in with murderers, the sexually immoral, liars and idolaters? It kind of startled me in this day and age that serves up anxiety for every course. As someone who has silently, privately, struggled with anxiety and struggled with taking a bold stance on some seriously hot topics, it really got me thinking…

We must rectify our fears, like we do our sins, before our Father, for the cowardly, like murderers, will not inherit all things from God. They will not receive from the fountain of the water of life or walk streets of gold. Instead, the cowardly – those who lack courage, the spineless – shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

Fear is not just a typical symptom of living here. Fear – that which creates cowards, shrinking in the background – is actually our foe. This foe cannot just wound us with a bad day, loneliness or sweaty palms. It cannot just bribe or blackmail us. Fear, the foe that works to attack us daily, carries with it eternal ramification. Fear, which comes from the devil himself, strives to knock us into the lake of fire for eternity.

Fear isn’t just a passive, silent irritant in each of our lives. There is nothing innocent or personal about it. It is our enemy, and it must be fought.

Fear distracts our focus from God. It impacts how we see the world and others. It taints what we think, how we feel, what we say, and how we interact with those around us. Not only is fear an attack that must be managed, it is a distraction – a wall, that keeps us from the good and the Kingdom work we are called by God to do.

I will no longer just manage fear, nor will I make agreements with it. I am removing it and laying it at the altar, the feet of Jesus, and claiming freedom for 2021. Jesus died for my freedom, and I am picking up the forgiveness and healing He gives.

As we prepare for 2021, I want to invite you to join me and others in laying our burdens at the feet of Jesus. This year will be different. This year will be one of freedom in Jesus’ name.

In God’s Will

What is God’s will for your life? “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

I don’t plan to be miserable. I won’t allow it, in fact. I have been labeled gullible, under-researched or uneducated by the hope I carry. I am aware, researched and educated. (I’ve been doing this media and politics thing professionally for years.) I simply will not allow this world to rob my joy, my hope, or my gratitude. I will not throw my pearls to the swine. The trash situations of this world will not steal the peace Jesus fought for me to have.

I will seek joy. I will seek the Lord in prayer – more than any person or source. I will continue to thank Him, filled with wonder and gratitude for what He has done in my life. This culture will not keep me from giving God the praise He deserves. Joy, prayer, gratitude, hope, wonder, love – always.

I am kept safe in my Father’s arms even as the world quakes, shakes and shutters. My inexplicable hope, peace and confidence comes from Him. I am in Him. I am marked as His. I never did nor do I now belong to the world.

Therefore, we will enjoy Christmas as before… Our children are only this age once. I am only 40 once. This is life. This is my life that God gave me, and I intend on living it as a form of worship to the creator for giving it to me. Live. Joy and peace are available to us in His presence.

A Willing Sacrifice

“I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:17b-18).

For 10 years, I traveled very regularly, primarily to New York City and Chicago. One of my habits was sharing about Jesus’ love with my cab drivers. This made for some interesting conversations. Many of them were encouraging.

I encountered several who thought, or tried to convince me, that their religion and mine had the same God. They would say they even believed in Jesus. It sounded deceivingly similar. Yet, near the end of the conversation, they would work to plant a seed – a very dangerous seed that, if believed, could uproot the truth of who God is, and who Jesus is, in a person… They would say that Jesus only died because God the Father made Him, but that He didn’t want to die. One man told me directly, using scriptures out of context, that Jesus didn’t love me, that He only did what His Father made Him do.

In case you have heard this and have questioned this, or you have experienced this same objection or doubt, I want to share this crucial verse from Jesus Himself: “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:17b-18).

Jesus laid down His life for you, for us, out of His own willingness, out of LOVE. He chose to do this for us for our healing, our forgiveness, and to make us right with God so we could spend forever together… “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

It is SO crucial to our peace here on earth, and to our eternity after, that we recognize the truth and depths of Jesus’ love for us. It is also crucial that we are aware that the devil will use scripture out of context to uproot our fundamental beliefs and threaten our eternity. And it is crucial we stay in the Word of God to combat that with the truth of God’s Word! Or, if you are not a Christian, talk with a Christian friend about any of these things (like me)!

Here’s the truth: God loves you! Jesus loves you! Jesus died for you from His love. And there are not multiple ways to the Father, to Heaven. There is only one way to the Father, to Heaven, and that is through your faith in Jesus Christ as LORD – not as a prophet, teacher, or good person – as Lord. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Jesus loves us so, so much, you guys. He dotes on you – no matter where you are or where you have been. He wants to spend eternity with you. After all, He created you out of His love and desire to spend time with you – together, in fact! He has changed my life, and I cannot keep quiet about what He can do. He is so, so good!

I want to encourage you that Jesus’ love for you is real. He willingly laid His life down for you because He wants to spend eternity with you. I encourage you to ask Him about His love for you today. Praying is just a conversation with God, and the Bible tells us that He is attentive to our cry: “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6). He is near, and He wants to save you from any trouble because of His vast and infinite love for you!

I know I cannot live a day without Him, yet His love is more than enough for every need in my life! I pray the truth of His love permeates your heart and mind today, in Jesus’ name.

Intangible Evidence

Evidence attests to, documents, supports and reinforces the validity of a claim or an assertion. Evidence verifies and confirms the validity of a proposition or a belief. Evidence is concrete. It proves a claim.

We want to see, feel, and touch evidence to believe it exists in order to believe there is a corresponding outcome. Yet, some evidence exists, is real, confirms and validates a true and actual outcome that we cannot see, feel, or touch. There is evidence that exists that we cannot hold in the palm of our hands yet is still proof, nonetheless.

For example, think of gravity. I cannot hold gravity in my hand. I cannot touch it, hold it, taste it or smell it. Yet, I cannot fly at my every whim. My evidence that gravity exists is that I am magnetized to the ground. In the same way, I cannot bottle, hold or see the wind, yet there is evidence that it exists by the trees swaying back and forth and leaves blowing about my yard.

In a similar way, how do you know, how can you verify, how can you prove that God made the earth? And is there proof that someone is a good and righteous person? A way to prove they believe in God? Or, how can you say, assert or confirm that it is time to grow your family or that it is time for you to move? You might know that you know yet friends or family say, “How do you know? Show me, let me touch the proof.”

Not all evidence is able to be seen or touched yet you know that what you sense is as real and as palpable as the chair you are sitting on, such as gravity and the wind are real. What can we call this evidence? Faith. “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see” (Hebrews‬ ‭11:1‬).‬‬

Faith is real. Though you cannot touch it with your fingers or see it with your eyes, it is a true piece of evidence to God that is as real as gravity and the wind. In fact, faith is necessary to be “good,” to be righteous. It is evidence to God that we believe in Him. The evidence that we believe in God is our faith. “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him” (Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬).

How do we understand, how do we know, that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen? By faith.

How did Noah know to build a large boat to save his family from the flood? And how did God deem him righteous? How did Abraham act upon and obey God by leaving home and going to another land he did not know to receive his inheritance? How is it that Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and too old? “She believed!” It was all by faith.

Many believe the proof of their faith is the cross necklace they wear, or the good works they do, the nice things they say or the gifts they give. Though all of these things – gifts, philanthropy, acts of kindness – are good, they do not prove you are good or where your heart is. Though those kind gestures are nice, “it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him”
‭‭(Hebrews‬ ‭11:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬).

While people see your actions and might judge you by those, God sees our hearts and our motivations. He sees the truth. He can see if we have faith in Him or if we put our faith in ourselves, our money or others. He can see if we have love for Him and others, or if we are just out for ourselves, helping those who can help us in return. He can see if our hearts mirror His heart or if our hearts reflect the world’s ways.

To please God, to prove where our hope is, we must have faith in and believe in Him, knowing that He alone is good, and that He is powerful. Faith, though unseen by us, is seen by God. And there is a reward in it.

So, what does this look like for your everyday life?

Do you feel God nudging you? Is He continuing to put something on your heart again and again? Maybe like Sarah, He is telling you to step out into parenthood despite what the world or your career says. Or maybe He is nudging you to move your family though the opinion may be unpopular. Maybe He is giving you a heads-up (wisdom), like He did for Noah, to take measures and make lifestyle changes – as strange as they may seem – to protect and advance your family. Do you sense Him calling you to trust in Him, to put your faith in Him in ways that feel real and hopeful yet seem counterintuitive to what others say?

Though others cannot put their finger on this evidence, though they may not understand your reasons or motivations for deciding things as you are – with God! – God sees your faith. He sees your obedience. Your response to His call is evidence of your faith. It is proof that your heart is with Him, and He will reward your faith. He will reward your family and you (for generations to come!), for putting your hope in Him above and beyond all other things.

Read Hebrews 11 to see just how He rewarded all of the people listed above and so many more amazing stories. You will see that following God requires faith. It requires stepping out into the uncomfortable and the unknown, yet the reward is greater than any you have ever seen or could describe.