The Beauty of Trust

Many of you reading know the saga my mother and I have been through the last several weeks from the moment we learned our sweet dog, Jack, has cancer. It began with losing a tooth and further discovery of shattered jaw bone. What a blessing in disguise because it revealed cancer. He possibly has two types of cancer cells; the spreading kind and the non spreading. A more conclusive test is being done which will reveal, according to the type of cancer he has, the extent of surgery he needs.

Jack has no idea what is going to take place in the next two weeks. He will have some type of jaw surgery to cut out the tumor. Thankfully, the CT scan showed no spreading of cancer anywhere else in his body. There is hope that removing the tumor will allow Jack a long and healthy rest of his life. It will be painful for Jack for several days. His food will be mush. He won’t be able to enjoy chewing his peanut butter bones. He won’t know why, but one thing for certain, he will trust. We will be with him, take care of him, nurture him, encourage him, give him chin tickles and ear twirls. We will lovingly do all we can to help ease him through. We love Jack. Then it will all be over and he will be healthy again. He will run and play and sling his toy squirrel and giraffe around. All will be well in his world.

I began to think that it’s really no different for you and me in our spiritual worlds. Sometimes our Heavenly Father sees something in our lives that is undesirable. Sin is like cancer. Left unchecked it will surely kill, steal, and destroy our joy and peace. Our loving Father sets us upon His potter’s wheel. He begins chiseling and cutting away the cancer. It can be painful. We may need time to recover as we seek forgiveness and restore ourselves in His sweet fellowship, but oh how worth it all! There is no joy like walking the road of holiness with our Father’s perfect ways in focus. While the thief, Satan, wants to steal our joy; by contrast, our Father desires to give us an abundant life.

Jack doesn’t know what’s coming but it will be for his best. You and I don’t know what tomorrow holds. Nor can we even be certain what may happen by the end of today. Take comfort and courage in knowing, Father loves, and heals, and holds us. Sometimes pain is allowed in our lives, not because of sin within, but of a need to grow stronger, to become more like Jesus, to better let our light shine. (Matthew 5:16) There is no strength like the very fortitude of God in our lives. Jesus said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10 NLT).

Jack is oblivious of tomorrow but he trusts us completely. May you and I be the same. In what we cannot see, may we trust and know — Father loves and nurtures, and hugs us in His heart. If Jack can trust us in our imperfections, surely we can trust our Father in His perfect plans for us. As that old and wonderful hymn declares, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”