Trusting in God... Kinda

"Jesus, I trust in You." Okay, you said the words... but do you trust in Him, really? Yeah, a lot of us are like that. We say we have confidence in God. We say we trust in Jesus, but get stuck in a traffic jam just once and the only thing you're trusting is that you can cuss up a blue streak at all the idiot drivers. 

Trusting God... having confidence in God... surrendering in God. It all sounds good until the rubber hits the road, life gets rough, and nothing is working out the way you want it to. 

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak...

Transcript

Confidence in God

Have you ever asked yourself how much? How much confidence do you really have in God? How much do you really trust him with your life and with everything about your life? How do you react when you ask for plain M and M’s and somebody gives you peanut M and M’s or. What happens when you, when, when you get up in the morning, you're on your knees telling God, it's like, I wanna do really good today.

I wanna be a, a shining light in, in, in darkness, right? You're on your way to work and you get in the car and five minutes later you're in a traffic jam and you're yelling at the person next to you and you're upset and you're ticked off because you don't want that. You thought to yourself, I need to be work at nine o'clock.

And I have to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And these are my plans. These are these, this is my mission. This is what I wanna do, this is what I want to see happen. And you get ticked off. Have you ever wonder why so many times when you do get angry or you get upset 'cause things don't work out the way you want them to, or not the way you had planned?

And all the time we're telling ourselves, we're telling ourselves what good people we are and how we're, um, you know, we, we trust God and we're gonna do his will in all things. Yet, as soon as things don't go our way a little bit, we get all upset and we get ticked off, we get discouraged, we get sad. You know, when I, when I had, when I was at work and I got served divorce papers, I, I didn't want that.

When, a year later I found out that there an annulment had gone through. I didn't, I didn't want that. When I landed in the hospital and the doctor told me my, uh, arteries leading my heart were 90% blocked and I had to have surgery. I, I didn't want that either. I think how many, how many years of my life I've wasted and pushing back on God and saying, I don't want this, you know, when it's really hot out in the summer, I hate the heat.

I mean, I absolutely hate the heat, and so I'm getting upset. I'm getting irritated, I'm getting upset. It's like, I don't want this heat. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So what I'm trying to say is, is that, and maybe I'm the only [00:02:00] one, I don't think I am, because I've, you know, I've, I've seen other people get upset too.

But do you ever ask yourself, how much do you actually trust God? How much confidence do you really have in him that he's doing the right thing, the best thing for you in your life? How many times a day do you surrender to him? Say, you know what, even with gritted teeth. Thy will be done. Thy will be done.

Thy will be done. Because that's what it really takes to, to get through. And here's what we don't seem to understand, okay? I don't understand. Maybe you do, is that God's in charge. My wife says this all the time. She goes, you know, it doesn't matter. God's in charge. And we laugh. And if you really believe that's true, if you really believe that God's in charge of everything, then you know, don't worry.

Be happy. Right? Why not trust him? But here's the thing. Now, as in some of my earlier episodes, I talked about, you know, dysfunctional families and things like that. I grew up in an environment where I don't, I don't think I [00:03:00] trusted, okay, when it came to authority figures or other people, there was just a lack of trust to the point where I figured I just had to do everything myself, right?

I was that 2-year-old. It's like I do it myself. I didn't think anybody was coming to help me. Nobody was coming to my rescue or so I thought, or I was led to believe or whatever, you know, psychology you want to throw at this whole thing. So I think for me, a lot of it was just I didn't know how to trust I, I didn't trust other people and I've had that issue for a long time.

So when it comes to God, God says, you know, trust me. Trust me in all things. Surrender yourself to me. When you see Jesus say, I didn't come to do my will, but the will of the Father, and, and look what he went through. Look what he accepted. Look what he just let himself go through. And you think about all the times, you know, and a and a one really tragic example is like, you know, parents who lose a child and you hear how they're just, they're upset.

How could God do this? How could God allow this to happen? But we get to the point. Where to trust in God is to trust in him completely because God wants our, the best for us. You're like, wait a minute, what do you mean the best for us? I, you know, I wanted, I wanted a, uh, 2025 Lincoln something or other. I ended up with a, you know, 2005 broken down Subaru.

That's not what I wanted. That's not what we're talking about, because when you think about it. Please. I hope you think about it. The only thing that matters is eternal life is your salvation. So in that context, when you think about, well, how come God doesn't gimme this? Or How come this didn't happen? I really wanted this and he didn't give it to me.

God is like that awesome parent who it in the sense that God could feel pain, which, which he doesn't. But let's just, just stick with me here for a minute. Think about God as the parent who. Has to take his child to surgery. It's a very painful surgery, but if they don't do the surgery, the kid's gonna die.

Now imagine being a parent and you have to take your child to the hospital for this horrible thing. The child's in pain. The child's looking at you with tears. No mommy, no daddy, let's not do this. But you know, the best thing for that child is for them to go through the surgery, so you do it. And I have to think that's kind of what God is like in a sense.

He sees the pain, he sees what you're going through, but he says, you know what? You're gonna thank me later. Hopefully you thank him right off the bat, but you know, you're definitely gonna thank him later. But it's about letting go. It's about saying, okay, and it's about having a trust that God is gonna do the best thing for you.

And it's so hard to wrap your head around when you know, again, maybe you've lost a job. Maybe you've lost a loved one. Maybe you've gotten hurt. Maybe you lost a hand or an arm or a leg. You know, a million maybes. Maybe this, maybe that. But think about each day and all of your little irritations and your discouragements of how things don't go the way you want them to.

So it's easy to say, Jesus, I trust in you, but would it be too much to ask if I could get that cool car or not? The, not the cruddy car. Would it be, you know, maybe I just, I, I'd like that raise at work because then I get the name, name tag on my, uh, the name plate on my door and it's got my name on there and people will look at me and they'll think I'm really cool and they'll look up to me and, uh, stuff like that.

So when you think about stuff on a day-to-day basis, when you look in the news, you think of all the tragedies and everything that's going on, can you really wrap your head around the fact. That whatever happens, it's, it's for the good. And you know, for this advent, I've decided to do a news blackout. So I'm not watching any news, which I've never been happier in the last few days.

But if you, if you watch the news every day, it's the worst things happening. How tragic. Look what's happening to the children. Look what's happening in these war torn nations. Look what's happening to the Catholics overseas. They're being. Uh, you know, tortured, kidnapped, and killed, and, and the economy is terrible and nothing's working way, the way that you want politically, and on and on it goes.

Are you letting yourself get upset by that? And I'm, I'm not being mean or judgmental because I'm, I'm thinking about myself, about how much time I've wasted in my life being worried about things that are of no consequence to me. First of all. Being upset about things that did happen to me or didn't happen the way I wanted them to.

And I've been upset, I've been discouraged, I've been sad. And here's, here's another one. Think of, think of if this is even part of you, of your experience, this, there are people in your life that cause you bitterness and resentment and anger, and you're still stewing, you're boiling about something that happened to you years ago.

We seem to have this issue in my own family where people remember things that happened 20, 30 years ago that you've totally forgotten about, that they'll still bring up in conversation. Do you remember that time when, um, actually I don't, but okay, that's good for you. But to hold onto things that didn't go the way we wanted them to in life, and yet we find ourselves getting upset and bitter and angry about them even to this day.

And then turn around and tell people, I trust God. I'm confident in God. I believe in God. Maybe that's why so many people turn away from, from, from God. You know, stick with me. Let me, let me think through this for a second. But think about all the people who just walk away from God or they just shove 'em to the side a little bit because God isn't their little, uh, you know, like genie in a bottle.

That's it. That's it. I think a lot of people think of God as like the gene of the Bible, that this genie comes out and says, yes, master, let me grant you all of your wishes. And then you, you wish for the stupidest things, right? And then you, and then, and then we get upset with God because we made stupid decisions.

He gives us free will. We made, we did some terrible things and then we get upset with God. Or we walk away from God because God doesn't want what? Doesn't do what we want him to do for us. Did you create the universe? No. God did. I mean, think it's almost laughable when you think about it. You think about the, the power of God.

You think about his incredible love for everyone, and you think about how awesome he is and that he knows everything, right? Omni mission, he's omni, the present, every great quality God has. And then we, we, these little creations. We look at God and we're like, you should have done what I told you I wanted to have done.

You should have given me what I wanted. And I have to laugh because I have spent years in some sort of either, you know, bitterness, resentment, um, anger at things that happened in the past, things that people either did to me or didn't do for me or whatever. And you think, how childish is that? How absolutely childish.

And then we, again, we come back to being, we get upset with him. Why are we upset with God? You made a stupid decision. Why are you mad at him? There's a story in one of the catechism books that talks about how this person was in a carriage, so this was a long time ago. That's updated to the 20, 20, 25.

You're driving in your car and all of a sudden there's an accident in front of you and you get delayed to wherever you are going, and you get there late. And you're so upset. I can't believe it. I got in this accident. That's not what I wanted. I'm so upset. And your blood pressure's going through the roof and your ears are red.

And then you come to find out that if it hadn't been for that traffic accident or the thing that slowed you down, you could have been in an accident up the road or some train maybe got the rail, that a bunch of cars were, were knocked out and people were were killed. Or if it was a winter time and because, because the traffic wasn't slower, slowed down.

You would've been going really fast and skidded out and died or something, just stick with me. It's a story I just thought of, but you think about that and how upset you get and you don't. We don't look at how God watches over us for our good. In many cases, it is for our physical good. If we knew how many times God saved us, or our guardian angels saved us or took care of us or kept, kept us out of a dangerous situation, can you imagine what it'd be like if.

You were to save some people, like because of something you did, and instead of thanking you and being grateful, they got mad at you. You know, it's like those superhero things, like, um, oh, what was that movie? It was the kids' movie. It was called The Incredibles, where they were bringing lawsuits against the superheroes.

The guy, the one superhero stopped the train from. Uh, crashing, coming off the tracks or something. And the guy sued him because he had whiplash. Oh, no, no, no. He jumped out of a, the guy was gonna jump out of the building or I'll have to watch the movie again. Anyway, so the guy head was either gonna commit suicide or he, you know, was gonna do something horrible.

And I think it was Mr. Incredible saved him, but he got whiplash. He shows up in court, he's got the, the neck brace on and everything, and he's gonna sue a superhero who, who saved his life. Because I think he wanted to die or, or, or something like that. So I imagine, imagine what God feels like or what it must be like to be him, to be intervening, intervening in your life at every moment, every second.

You know, he gives you a guardian angel who's watching over you and [00:13:00] taking care of you, and instead of like us on our knees every night saying, thank you. Um, thank you for this. Thank you that. Thank you. I got stuck in the traffic jam, or Thank you that my boss yelled at me or Thank you that my, my spouse has really ticked off because, uh, I made spaghetti with, um, the wrong kind of tomato sauce or something like that.

We're getting all upset and everything. Okay. It's hot wi it's, it's long-winded, but my, my point is it's getting back to trusting God has the best plan for your life. And if you're struggling with confidence, I've struggled with it for so long and I'm finally getting a little bit better at it, but throughout the day, it helps to just make acts of confidence.

So Jesus, I trust you, Lord. I don't understand this, but, but I trust it. This is gonna be the best for me and it's gonna work out the way it's supposed to because it is. Could you imagine with just. Having that trust, and maybe you do, and if you've got some tips for me, man, bring them on. But to wake up each day and you just trust every single moment to God, to his providence, to his care, knowing that no matter what happens, he wants the best for you.

He wants good out of every situation for you. He wants, he wants you to be in heaven with him. And again, here we are yelling at 'em. It's like, how come I didn't get this? How come I didn't get that? How come things didn't work out the way I wanted 'em to? How come there were, there were onions in the potato dish?

I didn't want that. But you, but you get the drift, right? But I think it takes, it's, it's every moment of, of making the decision that you're gonna have confidence in God, the father who loves you, who knows what's best for you. And again, I have to laugh when I think about how stupid this is. To look at God and want him to do what I want him to do for him, for me.

Again, here's the creator of the universe. He's the one who's in charge of everything. He makes the sun go up. It makes the sun go down. Or actually there are turns. Uh, it's science right, and, and here I am getting upset that things didn't go this way for me or that way for me, or I didn't like this or I didn't like that.

Can you imagine what it feels like to just let go, to let go? And give everything to God. Just knowing that no matter what happens it, it's for the best. You know, it's like St. John of the cross in the dark night of the soul, the where there's no consolation, you can't even tell if God is there or not. You feel alone.

You feel abandoned. But to have that confidence, this says, I don't know what's going on right now. I don't understand this. I don't get it. This is crazy, but Jesus, I trust in you. I'm gonna let go. I'm gonna give this to you. I have confidence in you. I put on my confidence in you, and I don't apologize for being a little animated because it is so amazing when you get these little moments throughout the day of calm when you just say, you know what?

When the whole world is in chaos, when your world is in chaos, and you have that glimpse of peace, the peace of heart, the peace that. You know, pray to God that when you get it, you never lose it. And I believe that that peace in your heart is from trusting in God and having great confidence that everything's gonna be okay.

And what do I mean by, okay, you know what? It may not even be okay in this life. I was thinking about this the other day. You know, for however many years you've been on this earth. Look back at your life at how quickly your life has gone so far. How fast it's gone. It's gone. And then what's ahead of you?

What's ahead of all of us is eternity. I mean, think about eternity. That's forever. That's a long time. So this little glimpse, this little bit of life where you're moaning and complaining about the weather, or you're moaning and complaining about how you're treated at work or with your family, or that you don't like the way this turned out, or you, or even worse, go back in time and say, well, if only this had happened or that had happened, you gotta stop that.

You gotta just look, look at God and just say, you know what? Thank you. I don't know what that was. I don't know what that situation was. I don't know what happened with that person, but I just, I just trust it's the best. And can you imagine the peace, the peace in your heart, the peace that just says, I trust in God instead of fighting him, we've gotta quit fighting against God.

You know? And, and we've gotta have him in our life to such a degree that we're just, we're like little kids who, with our little hands, we're, we're reaching up and God is taking. That hand and he's walking with us and we're just following him wherever he goes. 'cause we know wherever he's going, it's fine with us.

As long as I'm with you. You remember the first time you were in love and you're like, oh honey, I just wanna be with you. No matter where you are, no matter where you go, we'll be together, SMUGs. Yes, we will no matter what. Take that first impulse of love and apply it to God. Lord, wherever you go, I want to go with you.

I want to be with you. He's either gonna hold your hand or he's gonna carry you. So if you're having, if you're struggling with confidence, that's, that's what I recommend. It's it, it's looking at God as in every moment of your life. It makes me sad when I think of all the people who walk away from God and when.

The bottom line reason is because God didn't do for them what they wanted him to do. God didn't act the way they wanted him to do at, at, at particular moments in time. Or they get mad at God. God, why did you take away my son or my daughter? God, why did my marriage break up? God, why did I lose that job?

And God is like, well, it's trust me. I can see everything. We're so moronic, right? We, we live in the, this moment where we're like, we just, we can't see, you know, beyond our shoes. God is in the eternal present, and he's looking at our entire life and the entire universe and all of eternity, and he already knows what's gonna happen with you.

And he's like, I'm doing this. I'm doing this, you moron, because it's the best thing for you. And, and hopefully you're gonna know that and, and you're gonna see that at some time. But why not do that now? Think about that right now. Instead of giving mad at God for all the things you didn't get and for all the things, the, the way things didn't go with, you know, family, friend, relatives, what have you.

It, it, it just, it's not worth it. You know what's really cool is when you get that peace of heart that says, Jesus, I trust you. I mean, think of the blessed Virgin Mary. Think of what she went through. Think of what she was saying yes to. For her entire life. She already knew what her son was gonna go through, all for the salvation of humanity.

And she still said yes. If God, at the beginning of your life, if you had the faculties of an adult, and if he showed you, if he laid out your life and all the things you had to go through are gonna go through to get to heaven. I wonder how many, many of us would've said, yes, Lord. Let's, let's do it.

Whatever you want, thy will be done. I mean, Jesus knew that too, right? Jesus. Knew what he came, came to to earth for. He knew what he was going to go through. He told the the apostles what he was gonna go through. He knew it his entire life, what he was gonna go through. And he said, I did not come to do my will, but my father's will.

Is that amazing trust or what? And if God had showed you your life from the very beginning, what exactly you're gonna go through, would you have said yes to him? Would you have said, yes, Lord, whatever it takes, I'm gonna do it. I don't know. I don't know for myself even I, I, I want to say yes. I'm like, ah, resounding yes.

When I look back at some of the things I've gone through, and if I had seen that beforehand, hmm, I don't know, probably would've screamed like a little girl and ran away. I don't know. But anyway, during this admin season, it's a great time. You just, you know, look at a crucifix and just. Ask our Lord and just say, give me, give me the trust.

Give me the surrender. Give me the confidence. I need to just go with you. Where, wherever you go, Lord. Right? Scripture says to pick up our cross every day and follow our Lord. He didn't say pick up a basket of, of, you know, flowers. He didn't say it was, you know, you're gonna tiptoe through these cute tulips and you're gonna, you know, come with me.

He said, pick up your cross and follow me. What? What? Look what he went through. And yet we keep looking at him and we say, no, I don't want to. I don't want this. So practice, confidence, practice saying yes to God. Practice saying, I don't understand it, but hey, this is cool. In fact, this is awesome. Look at stuff that just drives you nuts or gets you really ticked off and just say, you know what?

This is really awesome. If I didn't get really ticked off or if this didn't happen to me. I may not have worked harder to have grown in a virtue if I didn't have this problem with these, this person or these people, or people at work or wherever. I may not have sat down and gotten my knees and asked God and may not have prayed for them.

I may not have asked for help. So one thing I'm practicing too during this adv is this, this idea of gratitude. Thanksgiving instead of getting mad at God and say, why me? Why me say, thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Fake it till you make it. Jesus, I trust you. Fake it till you make it. Jesus. No matter what happens to me, I know you want the best for me.

Fake it till you make it. So move forward, move on. But each day it take, take a few seconds. Just say thank you. Even if you don't understand it, even if it doesn't make sense, especially if it doesn't make sense, because our human mind's got these little PP brains. God knows everything. God knows where he is taking God.

God sees where you're walking. God sees where you're going. He sees the 360 picture, and, and he knows what's best for you. Always knows what's best for you. So take confidence. Take courage. One thing I I, I've been praying is a, a prayer of surrender. It's Jesus. I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.

Just say, I can't. I can't do this. You take care of it. I trust you. All my confidence is in you. And then no matter what he does or doesn't do, every night before you go to bed, just say thank you. Thank you for everything. I don't understand this, but thank you. Or the things you do understand and say thank you.

So get in the habit of, of being thankful to God and grow in that confidence, that grow in that trust. Don't run away from God, run to him. Quit getting upset with him and mad at him because he's not doing what you want him to do. Heaven, help us if that ever happens. Imagine how screwed up your life would be if God gave you everything you wanted, if he did everything for you that you wanted him to do for you.

If there was no pain in suffering in your life, it was just, you know, hey, super duper 'cause those moments have made us what we are. They've forged us into better people, that you're looking to heaven and that you're working on those things. So I'll quit blabbing. Have confidence, have trust. Surrender yourself to God, give yourself to him.

And next time someone you know, hands you regular M and M’s. When you want to peanut M and M’s, just say thanks. All right, we'll see you next time.