We took our three-year-old to the beach yesterday, assuming he would enjoy the sand and the water. But as we approached the crashing waves, Thomas started to cry, clinging onto my husband for dear life. We tried to talk him through it but he kept wailing, staring – horrified by the energetic blue and white creatures.
“We’d better take him back,” I said to Michael. “He’s really distressed…”
But Michael felt it was worth more of a try.
Soon Daddy was making a game of it, inventing rhymes for Thomas to yell at the waves as they rolled in. Thomas’s tears started to dry up, and although he had a few hiccups along the way, by the end of our time he was laughing and buoyant, proud of his newfound bravery.
We all have trust issues at times…
And sometimes we can think of no way to rationalize the fears that control us.
Moving through distrust can, for some, simply be a matter of practice. We prove a person, or a situation, is safe by testing the waters, again and again… taking one baby step at a time before we realize it’s OK… they’re OK.
The one time in my life that I really moved away from God was terrifying. I had trusted him for so long, but when I became convinced the world really wasn’t trustworthy I started to put him in the same category. I slowly and carefully responded to his beckoning call… His invitation to trust again. And he really was worth it.
Trust isn’t given overnight – and it shouldn’t be, if we are wise. But we must practice facing the waves of fear, little hand in Daddy’s bigger one…
Life – certainly people – won’t ever be perfect this side of heaven – but he can teach us to laugh at the raging waters, tackling each one head on. We may not always know which ones are the ‘safe’ ones… but we can be sure he is. And he’ll never let us go.
It's a God thing... 
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