Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Trusting Providence

"TRUSTING PROVIDENCE", p. 99, Mother Angelica's Private and Pithy Lessons from the Scriptures. Double Day 2008.



"Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well" Matthew 6:33

"Now it is fine to pray, and after you pray, leave it alone. That's trust. You trust that whatever you do sincerely in the eyes of God, whatever the outcome, it will be good for you. Trusting is to love someone enough that you trust whatever it is they do. You're willing to stand by them if they fail. God will stand by me if I fail. But constant worry, depression, anxiety, frustration, thinking 'nothing's going to change' --that is a total, total lack of trust.

It's so bad because what does it do? It keeps your mind and heart away from Jesus. And that's the whole thing. It's one of the cleverest tools of the enemy, because he makes you think you're doing right. He make you think that you've got to solve the problem, so you have no trust that God will solve the whole thing in His time. That can have a paralyzing effect on the soul.

If you don't have trust in your life, you have little love, because trust comes from love. If you love someone deeply, you trust them. You may not understand God's ways, but you can trust that everything is going to be okay. That's what the blessed mother did. Just look at what she said yes to. That takes real trust. Work on trusting God, my friend, in little and big ways throughout the day. There's a beautiful book called Abandonment to Divine Providence --that whole book is one total act of trust. You can ask for things, but if you don't get them, keep your peace and drop it. That's trust."