Page 10 - March 2014 Catalyst

THE TRUST FACTOR
By Gladys Grimaud | Continued from pg 9
every time we looked out the window from our third oor apartment and watched Greg, with a deformed arm, at play on the very same playground that he had injured himself.
What is the trust factor, anyway, that we kept going back to the well and drawing more strength from its reserve?
Trust is a precious com-
modity in one’s life, and
if the trust factor is lost,
then a valuable character
asset is dissolved that is
not easily gained back.
Trust demands knowl-
edge. Some people seem
to think faith is merely
accepting what we can-
not know. ey think of
faith as a shabby substi-
tute for certain knowl-
edge. “If you can’t really
know it,” they say, “then
take a blind leap in the
dark and believe it any-
way.” at’s not the way it is at all. True faith is built on accurate knowledge. If we do not know someone, we will nd it very di cult to trust him, and perhaps that is why so few people today can trust God. ey have never invested time to read His Book to learn of Him, converse with Him in prayer, hang out with oth- ers who know Him, or simply bask in the glow of His presence and worship Him. Entertaining the thought of obey- ing Him never enters their minds, simply because they don’t know Him. “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 path,” means nothing to them.
10 CityLight.org
Trust is built on accurate knowledge. If we do not know someone, we will nd it very di cult to trust him.
ere are degrees of knowledge. Although I did not personally know the orthopedic doctor that operated on Greg, I did know that he had been the team doctor for the Minnesota Vikings and that gave me a layer for the trust factor. As I watched his bedside manner with Greg and listened to his instructions on what he expected would happen as the days went by, I began to build trust in him. We had Greg’s orig-
inal X-ray at home and we were measuring his arm every night to see if any changes were occur- ring. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, there seemed to be few signi cant changes taking place, and we were needing to dig deeper and deeper into the trust factor.
One sleepless night, a desperate mother knelt beside a sleeping little boy’s bedside, placed her hand on his elbow, and
began to pray to the One who in the past had proven Himself to be absolutely faith- ful. “Lord Jesus, here are your children, Greg and Gladys. I want you to know that even though I cannot see any positive movement in the position of Greg’s arm... I trust you anyway. You are completely trustworthy. I will walk by faith and not by sight. ank you for the wonderful doctor you have provided for us, but the doctor cannot make the body heal. Only You can do that. I love you, Jesus.”
ere is a sense in which every Christian knows the Lord. We often use the phrase KNOWS THE LORD synonymously with being a true Christian. Jesus said,
march 2014