This year at Called to Watch we’ve explored what trust looks like in the context of chronic illness, and why it can be so difficult. We’ve uncovered what it means to trust others, to trust ourselves, and to trust God. For me personally, and I’m sure for most of us, this year has given us many opportunities to trust. The more uncertain life is, the harder it can be to trust, and the more important it is!
I recently read a poem by Anne Carson, titled The Glass Essay. This part stood out to me:
You remember too much,
my mother said to me recently.
Why hold onto all that?
And I said, Where can I put it down?
Anne Carson
As we enter the holiday period, after a long year of Watching and living, are you holding onto too much? Take a quick assessment – are there worries you didn’t know you were stockpiling, frustrations you’ve swept under the carpet, resentments you thought you’d grown out of?
We all carry these burdens. But are you looking for a place to put them down?
I am.
Let us go together, to a baby born in a manger 2000 years ago. Let us go and place our ‘too much’es before Jesus.
Trust can change your life
We do not have to be enough, and we do not have to hold onto everything. Of course, it’s difficult to lay our burdens down. It’s a terrifying act of trust – will God be enough if I don’t plan for every eventuality, if I don’t have my anger to protect me, if I stop and admit that I’m exhausted?
He will be – the Bible promises us that – but we will never know that he is, until we lay down our burdens in trust. God doesn’t give us future strength for future problems in the present. He simply gives us what we need for each moment.
Choosing to trust can be life-changing – and what better time to let God change your life than Christmas, when the world was changed forever in the twinkling of a star and the startled cry of a new-born?
Missed out on our Trust series?
The Beautiful gift of Trust in Chronic Illness
Are Trust and Chronic Illness really compatible?
5 Ways to make Trust a Habit in Chronic Illness
3 Reasons to Trust someone with a Chronic Illness
3 Reasons to Trust God in Chronic Illness
What do you do when Trust is Broken?
Help! I’m not sure if I can trust myself!
Missed out on my Memoir?
3 Reasons I wrote a memoir about Chronic Illness and Watching
Two Sisters and a Brain Tumour – My memoir on Watching
Looking for a Christmas present for the Watcher in your life (or yourself!) – please consider purchasing Two Sisters – so that it may continue to bless many readers.
Check out the reviews here!
May your holiday season be a trustful and open-hearted time lived at the feet of Jesus.
Thank you for joining me on the Watching journey this year.
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