"Yes, There is a Reason to Trust"

I ran across this article in the InTouch magazine and thought that I would post it on the blog today.  This article is so timely for me, and I thought maybe it would be timely for some of you blog readers as well. 

"There is plenty of reason for confidence these days.  That's not the message we hear on the news every morning, but it's true.  Yes, the economy is in a slump, unemployment is up, and unrest in the Middle East continues.  But these things are nothing new.  The world has always experienced some kind of turmoil, and that hasn't stopped God from blessing His people and giving us reason to trust Him.

Many Christians profess belief in God and in His promises yet focus more on the continuous barrage of negative information that confronts them each day through televeision and the Internet.  Their lives are overshadowed by feelings of doubt, worry and, most of all, fear over what the future may hold.

If ever there was a time for believers to worry, it would have been when Christ was crucified.  On several occasions, Jesus reassured His disciples that He was doing God's perfect will--even when things seemed unbearably bleak.  He promised them their grief would turn to joy (John 16:20).  But their faith faltered.
After Jesus' death, the terrified disciples, certain they would meet the same fate as their Lord (John 20:19), went into hiding.  Fear gripped their hearts, and their minds raced to make sense of all that had happened.  They fogot Christ's words: "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful" (John 14:27-28). 

Some events in life seem to cause more pain than we can bear.  For the disciples, the crucifixion was such an occasion.  Instead of believing that Jesus would never leave them, the disciples were convinced He was gone forever.  And with Him went their hopes for the future.  But they were wrong: three days later the risen Savior stepped into their presence and proclaimed, "Peace be with you!" (John 20:19).

He is always at work--engineering the circumstances of your life to bring good from even the deepest loss.  Whatever your situation, God is aware of it.  And He has a plan in mind especially for you, just as He had a plan for the resurrection.  Yes, there is good reason to trust Him!"

--by Dr. Charles Stanley