09/02/2026
What is it that you are trusting in?
The other day I went to the store and ended up at register 23.
There was a kind older man in front of me, and almost immediately, something about him felt familiar. He reminded me of a man I had met when I was a child, shortly after my mom and I moved to Illinois.
My mom and I had nothing. I remember a man who ran a Christian clothing mission opening the doors specifically for us and telling us to take whatever we needed. I can still remember him encouraging my mom and I to take more.
I have forgotten many things from my childhood, but I never forgot his kindness.
The man that was standing in front of me had that same kindness about him.
He struck up a conversation with me about some kittens he had rescued, asking if I would like one. Then he apologized because he wished he could let me go ahead of him since I only had a few things, but he had already unloaded his entire cart.
As he was checking out, he turned to my son and said he had a comic book Bible and asked if he would like it.
I could tell my son was about to say no, but something in me thought, maybe this is one of those moments God has providentially placed in front of us.
So I said, “Sure, we’ll take it.”
We followed him outside to get the Bible, and before we left, I asked his name.
When he told me, I remembered his name.
This was the same man who had helped my mom and I - thirty two years ago.
I told him who I was and reminded him about the clothing mission. He confirmed the name of the mission and said he left some years ago and is now a pastor.
I saw his eyes tear up a little, and so did mine.
This didn’t feel like an accidental run in.
Thirty two years later, there we stood in a parking lot, and now he was handing a Bible to my son.
He shared a brief testimony with us. And at the end of it, he told me about a question that he felt God had deeply confronted him with during that difficult time.
“What is it that you are trusting in?”
That question followed me home.
Truthfully, I have been worrying about so much. Wanting to control outcomes is very exhausting.
It is easy to say that we trust God when life feels secure.
But what about when the money gets tight?
When your health frightens you?
When someone you love is dying?
When the future feels so uncertain?
When your mind starts running through every possible “what if”?
Worry has a way of exposing where our confidence is resting.
Every time fear begins telling us that everything depends upon us, we are confronted with a choice… Will I trust what I can see, control, calculate, and prepare for, or will I trust the God who already knows tomorrow?
Scripture does not tell us to trust God because our circumstances will always turn out the way we want.
It tells us to trust Him because He is God.
Sometimes we do not realize how much we have been trusting in other things until God allows them to feel uncertain.
And so I truly needed that question for my own heart.
Maybe today you do too.
When the thing you are afraid of comes to mind, when the “what if” starts running through your head, when tomorrow feels uncertain.
What is it that you are really trusting in?
Every “what if” reveals a deeper question, when you cannot control what happens next, do you still trust the One who can?
I pray today that our “what ifs” become “even ifs.”
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5
