Is It Possible To Trust Again?

Over and over again, I here this question.  Is it possible to trust again?  And what is sad is that the question comes from those in the church.  And just that last sentence makes me cringe.  It’s just not supposed to be like that.  Bu the reality is that we are in a period of history that doesn’t just allow us to vent, but also allows us to be heard.  The Internet has changed the conversation.

I get the question.  It was my own almost seven years ago as a group of men sat in a meeting that became the foundation for what would become Thrive Ministries.  I have the unexpected pleasure of being the one to say, “It’s just not possible.”

It’s interesting to be seven years removed from that question, now sitting on the other side of the fence.  It is possible to trust again.  It just takes work.  And there were many days over the last seven years that I wanted to quit.  It would just have been easier to remain on the outside of trust.  But this is not who I wanted to be nor who I was designed to be, my Heavenly Father constantly nudging me forward towards restoration.

Trust was only possible for me in a group of people willing to put trust on the line again.  This was a slow often painful journey towards learning forgiveness, reconciliation, facing my own wounds, and ultimately realizing that they didn’t define me.  They were simply events that could break me or shape me.  And as I lived in this intentional community, I began to realize that I had the space to let them shape me.  I had a group who would reveal love to me.

This is the footsteps of Jesus.  It’s the willingness to trust again.  It’s the willingness to run back to the Father with no preconceived notions but to be unexepectedly embraced in a way that is profound.  It is to discover my dignity rests in my Father’s love.  And with this love I can face anything.

Learning to trust again wasn’t about everyone else suddenly changing.  It was about me growing up into the person my Father had designed me to be.  And that was Jesus.  It was about me learning to love and be loved.  It was about me learning that I was not defined by my stuff, or what I did, or who I knew, or how smart I was.  It was about knowing the embrace of my loving Father and then sharing that love.  But to get there required trust.

Was it hard?  Absolutely. But it was worth it.