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Faith Foundations: In God we trust

Trust. It’s a big deal.
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Pastor Cyndi and her husband, Mark Pelletier

Trust. It’s a big deal.

Just ask the wife whose husband has had an affair. Ask the partner who’s been shafted in a business deal. Ask the patient searching his surgeon’s eyes before he is rolled into the operating room. Trust is important. With it great partnerships are made and confidence and peace. Without it we are crippled, even paralyzed and life is fraught with fear and uncertainty.

Across from me, as I sit writing this in the surgical family waiting room at Vancouver General Hospital, a husband weeps with joy at the news that his wife’s surgery has been successful and that she is now cancer-free. Trust has been rewarded. His relief is tangible. It floods the room like a sweet-smelling perfume.

Three months ago, my husband Mark began a journey that has spanned two countries, four hospitals, eight weeks of hospitalization and two surgeries. What started out as a business trip and highly anticipated vacation turned into a baptism of excruciating pain, hospitals, doctors, nurses, an illusive prognosis and an endless stream of pokes, prods, tests and waiting. In a matter of hours, our lives were turned upside-down and we embarked on a journey of hurry-up-and-wait while medical practitioners have been doing their best to unravel and address the trauma in Mark’s body.

When life, as you know it, is suddenly interrupted and you don’t know what the next five minutes, much less the next five days or five weeks will entail, you suddenly become very aware of your anchor. What I mean is, you become conscious of what brings you peace and comfort. It becomes abundantly clear what or whom you are placing your hope, your faith, and your trust in.

In Canada, we are blessed to have an excellent medical system. We have access to pharmaceutical drugs that help us manage pain. We have clean, safe hospitals. We have gifted doctors and surgeons. For many people in our situation, these commodities become the anchor, the hope, the things in which they ultimately place their trust. But what do you do when these things fail? When they fall short of delivering that which you so desperately need and desire?

In Proverbs 3:5-6 the teacher exhorts us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” In Psalm 9:10, the songwriter reassures us, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Knowing God’s name — His nature, His reputation and His track-record, makes all the difference in being able to trust Him in the hard times. This is not our first storm and, God giving us more days on this green earth, it most likely isn’t our last. We have experienced God’s protection and miraculous providence in the past. We know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we can count on His faithfulness now.

Putting your trust in God does not mean that you will never have difficulties or trials in this life. What it does mean is that you will never have to go through them alone because God never turns His back on those who trust Him and seek His face.