Hello from me on this beautiful, sunny, chilly autumn day in Northwest AR. The leaves are beginning to transition into their brilliant display of what God does with His paintbrush in the hills of the Ozarks. 😊Regardless of where you are, in a desert land, ice-capped mountains, or a tiny island in the vast ocean. Just look, with the Creator in mind, and you can see Him everywhere.

I began my day soaking in our Creator’s beauty in this season, in my Bible study, and time with Him. I believe the Lord has been preparing me for the text from my sister, Karen, which led to a phone call (too much for a text). Our conversations are packed with so much that I would not attempt to cover it all, nor should I. I am here to unpack the main thing the Lord has for me to share today. So, here we go…

Our discussions are mainly around our Lord, spouses, families, friends, Bible studies, church, our health, and natural supplements to improve it. You name it, and we pretty much have it covered. There is a lot when you become our age. 😊No wonder it turns into marathon calls that deplete our phone batteries. Lol! These conversations help recharge our spiritual batteries, also.

Each phone visit, I take away what I continue to call golden nuggets. These nuggets come in all forms. Sometimes they are simply reminders of what the Lord has already done for us, His blessings and encouragement. Sometimes it is for us to share the lessons that God has taught us through experience. You know, what we get the longer we live. Other times it is for accountability, confession, correction, or confirmation. Given enough time, we think we covered them all, and when we hang up, we think of something else. Lol! No matter what, though, there are always those golden nuggets.

Today’s example, we came full circle to the word that I claimed as my intent word for the year 2025… “Trust”. What we keep holding on to is simply a matter of distrust. We sing songs and say the words like “I surrender all”, which is a song that is typically sung throughout the years when there is an altar call. Do we leave it all at the altar? Do we really mean it? I surrender all! All means everything! What about our families that we keep trying to rescue from their troubles? Have we surrendered them to His trustworthy care? Or are we getting in the way of them turning to Him for help, direction, and Him being the Rescuer?

In our current Ladies’ Bible study, The War Room, we are asked some soul-searching questions that help us recognize where we honestly stand in this “trust” issue. You know we can be easily deceived; therefore, these questions are there for our benefit, and I was able to share these with my sister.

One of the most revealing questions for me was, “What do you crave most? List anything and everything you tend to place first in your life ahead of God. And then the following question, “Would you be willing to lay aside these or anything else, even good things, in order to keep Christ first in your heart?” As I answered without deception,  the truth was revealed. My issue was not fully trusting God with my family. I often surrender them on the altar and then pick them back up. What does it look like to surrender my family into God’s hands and trust that He keeps His promises to me about them?

A good place to start is to acknowledge who we all belong to before we were created in our Mother’s womb. That’s a humbling thought. Did I create them? It is almost laughable to believe that.

And as usual, this reminds me of a poem in “Blue Skies, Butterflies, and Battlegrounds”. Here are a few verses in “Gain”…

“If I gave my all to Him, what would I gain?

If I laid it all before Him, what should remain?

Or suppose all was stripped away, instead of laying it down,

Could my faith remain with nothing else around?

If my Lord and I were all there was remaining;

The gain I thought I once had is not sustaining?

Would this be the only way to the good He has for me,

Removing all I thought as gain, so I can clearly see?”

Then the poem goes on to point out authentic gain and the way to it. I end with these two verses…

“By laying it all before Him, abiding Helper working in me,

I gain everlasting bounty by giving all to Thee!”

Sounds like surrendering all to Him is the way. But we can do this only by fully trusting Him with everything, including our families.

At this point, it is appropriate to recognize that countless families have had theirs stripped away. It could be you. If it were me, would my faith remain? Only by His Grace and remembering who they belong to from the beginning of Him creating each one.

This leads me to all of the songs we sing, stating that we “trust” God? Doing a quick search, we find an endless list of songs that repeatedly say, “I trust in God”. Are we singing and following those words because we mean it? Or is it just what we should say, coupled with a powerful voice and talented musicians?

Now it may seem as though I’m off topic from my phone call with my sister, but that is not so. As I shared with her the soul-searching questions in this study and the revelation I received while answering them, it helped her with some of her family issues as well. When we hung up, I listened very closely to the words I was singing in Lauren Daigle’s song “Trust In You,” and I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Sing it like you mean it!” Was I not? The answer was clear that I had not yet surrendered my family so that I could truthfully sing those words and mean them.

 I spoke earlier of coming full circle to the word I claimed as my intent word for 2025, “Trust”. Intent is defined as a noun: aim or purpose; as an adjective: resolved or determined to do something. I am thankful, as we are nearing the end of the tenth month of this year, that the Lord has me taking a closer look at where I am in this trust intent. As in the 139^th Psalm of David, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.” NKJV Thank You, Lord.

I can confidently say that my sister agrees that the golden nuggets in our phone calls are of mutual benefit. As Proverbs 27:17 states, “As Iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” This is an image to illustrate how people, through mutual interaction, can help each other grow and improve.

I am even more confident in the Lord helping us both grow and improve in surrendering it all, including our families, as we mean what we say when we say (and in my case write poems and blogs), and sing that we trust Him. There’s a little saying, “the proof is in the pudding.” God says, “I’m looking at your heart, and your actions are the proof”. With His help, our Holy Spirit Helper, our actions will be the proof of what God sees in our hearts. We will mean it with all our hearts; therefore, do it, not just sing or write about it.

Karen and I have both been led to look up all the promises of God about our families. These promises will certainly build our trust if we stand on them, not sight our circumstances.

Regardless of your area of lack of trust, the Lord’s deep desire is for you to mean what you say and sing. He will gladly help you through the Holy Spirit, His Word, and the golden nuggets He sends. You might also read my February 4, 2025, blog titled Passing the Gouge With Golden Nuggets for further encouragement.

And I mean it when I say that I hope you have gained a golden nugget by reading what I believe the Lord had for me to share today. Your comments are always welcome.

God bless you and yours,

Reba