Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Trust

When we start working with a young horse, he doesn't always trust us at first.  From the day he is dropped on the ground or he comes to your place, you are working on gaining his trust.  We do that by never putting that horse in a situation where he gets hurt.  He can be scared of something, he can question something and that's ok.  It's ok to be scared.  It's ok to question.  We just have to show them that whatever that scary thing is, is really just something that looks scary but really isn't.

The first time I took my little Maggie mare through a deep puddle, she was scared.  It didn't look like a good deal to her.  The ground didn't feel right, I suppose.  She tried to go to the right and then the left.  She tried to go every direction she could to keep from going through that water.  She was looking for the easy way out.  But I just kept bringing her back to that place and encouraging her to go forward...I waited for her to find the right way.  When she finally made a "try" in the right direction, I let her sit.  I petted her and let her relax.  I showed her that was the easy place.  Then I asked her for a little more.  Eventually, she got the idea that it would be ok and she walked, hesitantly, through the puddle.  Now when I ask her to go through a puddle or cross water, she still doesn't just go blundering through it.  She puts her head down, has a sniff and a look before she crosses...like any smart horse would.

Now the reason I'm telling you this is because I have been thinking a lot lately about lessons in trust that the Good Lord gives us.  When we are new Christians, we are a lot like Maggie was when I was teaching her to cross that water.  God puts us in situations to teach us trust.  And it looks scary to us.  We question it.  The "ground doesn't feel right to us", so to speak.  We go left and we go right.  And He does just like I did with Maggie.  He just keeps nudging us back to the middle where we are supposed to go.  He's patient with us.  And when we finally learn that we can cross that water and it will be ok, well, we gained a little trust.  But probably next time, we'll still put our head down and have a look before we cross the water again.....like any smart horse would.

The thing is, we'd all like to have God just wave his hand and do a miracle all the time.  Sometimes He does that.  But sometimes, He puts us in situations that are tough, that we don't like one bit.  I've put Maggie in those places too.  And what happened when the day was over?  If I did things right, she trusted me more.  Why?  Because everything turned out ok.  And see, that's how God does with us.  He puts us in those places we don't like because at the end of the day, we'll learn that we can trust Him more.  What would we gain if He just waved His hand all the time and did a miracle?  It's a much better learning experience for us if we have to go through something with Him, just like Maggie has had to with me.  She knows she can trust me now.  And because of all the "tests" the Good Lord has put me through, I've learned that I can trust Him.  He will ALWAYS bring me through.  He will always take care of me and make me better if I just trust Him.  It's not always easy, mind you.  I still try to go left and right sometimes.  I still look for the easy way......and it is ALWAYS with Him.  But He's patient with me.  He waits on me.  And I'm sure grateful that He does.


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