Learning to Trust God and See the Blessings Despite Difficulties in this Life

How do I learn to trust in the Lord? I recall a time when I faced a difficult situation, and I chose to trust in God's plan. The peace and joy that followed were beyond what I could have imagined. Psalm 33:21 says, “In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name."

Having joy is linked to trust, so having more joy increases our trust, and having more trust increases our joy. God wants us to be happy. True happiness (joy) comes from abiding in him. Psalm 97:12 says, “ May all who are godly rejoice in the Lord and praise his holy name.” Being joyful in the Lord means trusting that He has plans for us to live our best life. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “My plans for you are for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope. When you pray, I listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." 

 Trusting God means searching for the good and finding hope in Him. Looking for the worst things to happen or focusing on the bad things that happen to us reduces our trust in the Lord. While looking for the best scenario or “silver lining” increases our trust in Him. James 1:2-3 says, “When Troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”

In 2018, Harvard psychologists David Levari and Daniel Gilbert observed TSA agents looking for terrorists where there should not be any. Example: doing a full pat-down search on a 92-year-old lady. They hypothesized that our brains get programmed to look for trouble in our lives. They did a study tasking people with viewing 800 faces ranging from downright intimidating to completely harmless. They were asked to judge which faces seemed threatening. After viewing 200 faces, they began showing fewer of the threatening faces. As the frequency of threatening faces decreased, the participants began to judge neutral faces as threatening. Their conclusion suggests that as we experience fewer problems, we do not necessarily become more satisfied with life. We just lower our threshold for what we consider a problem. We end up with as many issues, but they become hollow. 

We can apply this conclusion to joy. As we seek the things of the world to make us happy, when we find a new thing, the old one no longer brings us happiness. 1 John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from the world, and this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

Rather than being happy, God wants us to feel blessed. Blessed means experiencing the goodness of God despite the difficulties of this life in the world (supernatural Peace). Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence." So here we are now, blessed when we put our trust in God! We gain that supernatural peace despite all difficulties by trusting in the Lord. John 16:33 says, “I have told you all this that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth, you will have many trials. But take heart (have courage), because I have overcome the world.” 

 In conclusion, we trust in the Lord by focusing on His goodness and love for us. And trusting gives us freedom, peace, and joy that can not be experienced without focusing on God’s goodness and love. I leave you with one last verse. Psalm 143:8 “Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.” 

 References: 

NLT Bible 

 The Comfort Crisis. https://andrewclark.co.uk/product-book-summaries/the-comfort-crisis 

 Levari, D., Gilbert, D., Wilson, T., Sievers, B., Amodio, D., & Wheatley, T. (2018). Prevalence-induced concept change in human judgment. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap8731

 Discussion/Thought Question - So after reading my post answer this... Can you think of a time when you trusted God during a difficult situation, and it actually brought you some peace and joy? What was that like?

2010 USDAA Championships

We had a good weekend last weekend at the USDAA Championships!

Splash and Edan went to the Championships with me. Both were on a team. Splash ran in the PGP quarterfinals, no bye, and PSJ Semifinals. Edan actually had a bye into the Semifinals.

Splash had an awesome PGP quarterfinal run, except I slipped and was proud of still getting there for my front cross then oops!! did not turn enough in my cross and sent her to the wrong jump!! Her running dogwalk was awesome!!
Edan was running really well and had a beautiful Semi GP run going, but missed a weave pole and I did not want to fix it, just kept going!!

Team snooker, I did the same plan for Splash and Edan, except I did 1 less red for Edan. With no lead-out for Splash I did 5-6-and 2 -7's. She was sitting in first place till the end of the day when a Sheltie did 2-6's and 2-7's to beat her by 1 point. So she ended up in second.

Splash then had a great run in Steeplechase. second in her group. waited all day to see if it would hold. Ended up going into the finals in 5th place. We were too nervous, and not in sync at the beginning of the course. after an off course at #4-5. I relaxed and we enjoyed and smoked the rest of the course!!

PVP jumpers, Splash again had a very nice run and ended up in 6th place! So we came home with 3 ribbons and a silver medal!!

Edan ran nice all weekend, but the 22" class is so competitive!! Edan however did get to go lure coursing Saturday and Sunday. He got to run with his Toller girlfriend, Quantum, on Saturday. I think it helped him speed up!!
Sunday he got to go into the final round and ended up 2nd after his other girlfriend, Snafu. so he came home with a red ribbon after all. He got to run with Snaf after their finals run. Knowing Snaf was faster, I released Edan first. He blocked Snaf the whole way to the last turn and she then squeaked by to win by a nose.
The lure course workers loved to see the run!!

Cede

I got busy with all my dogs so need to finish my story about Cede. She was my next dog and first Toller. I just recently lost her and am posting her memorial. I will try to do more posting and get back to her story later.

Can/NSDTRC(USA) CH, ADCH Mercedes Dealers Choice WCI,CD, MX,MXJ,PDIII, TM-Bronze, SCH-Bronze, JCH-Bronze

October 1, 1994-January 8, 2008

My most cherished Toller who taught me to enjoy life at all times. Cede taught me to make training and competing fun. If it was not fun, we did not do it. She always put her heart into everything we did, though in a carefree way. She loved life!!! Her life story would make a great book. We made a lot of great friends and had many fun times.

She excelled at all sports that she participated in, with many conformation wins, including a few group placements in Canada. She was the perpetual BOS at the Backyard classic several years in a row. She got her club CD at 17months of age, and WC/WCI in the same weekend at age 2. Three months later she finished her CH to earn her Rusty Jones award.

That behind her we spent most of our time training and showing in our favorite sport, agility. Cede had many accomplishments including being on the first all Toller team “Totally Twisted Tollers” with Rembrandt and Roxanne, being the 4^th Toller to earn an ADCH, and one of the first Tollers to attend the AKC Nationals along with her son Dasher. The year 2002 was her year. She placed 3^rd in the International Class in 16” as well as third in the USDAA Veterans Grand Prix at age 8. The next spring she topped her career by being the first Toller to compete at the World team tryouts.

One of my most memorable moments was a humbling one. We were in Ohio competing in a pairs relay class. Cede ran first, and at the exchange of the baton we were to stay in the box until our partner got done running. Ron Schuman with Andy (Toller), were playing at the pool with the water hose about 20 yards away. After our partner started to run, Cede left the ring to go play with Andy. I was able to get her back before my partner finished their course, so the judge did not see that Cede was gone. She only heard me calling her, so did not DQ us.

I will never forget Cede, my first and most special Toller. May you Run In Peace across the rainbow bridge.

My start in Agility/ Mandi

I started out in Agility when I had my first dog ( Mandi,Yellow Lab) as an adult. My parents raised Miniature and Giant Schnauzers, so I grew up training and playing with puppies and dogs. I only wish they had agility when I was a kid. My Min. Schnauzer (Echo) and I hated obedience. She was a very high strung, active dog.
So I rescued this Maniac Yellow Lab at 4 months of age. Labs are so different from Schnauzers. My Adventures with Mandi started out similar to Marley's and John Grogan's. I laughed and cried when I read "Marley and Me". It reminded me so much of my Mandi. I started to lose my green thumb with her, as she destroyed most of my plants. Then I got into agility and dogs, and have no time for plants.
When I got Mandi, a friend of mine wanted to become an obedience instructor, so the deal was she would take Mandi to class, show me what they are to work on and I worked on it during the week. When she finished those classes, that was not enough for me. I grew up with trained dogs, so I searched for classes to continue on. In the mean time Mandi had taught herself to climb a ladder, and I taught her other tricks with footballs and Frisbee's. She also was able to climb a 6 foot fence to get to me.
So in my search for a good obedience class, I happened upon a brochure for a workshop for agility. It seemed perfect for us. We went, got hooked, started classes, and at 2 years of age Mandi competed in a trial and got her first title! This was in 1991.
Mandi has been at the Rainbow bridge for 5 years now, and I still miss her so much. She got me into agility, head over heels. She was very smart and loved to show off. She performed her best at big shows with crowds. By the time I got my next dog I had become so involved, I became a judge, thanks to my friend Karen Holik. There was no turning back.
I still have Mandi's trophy displayed from our first USDAA National Event. We won the 24" Time Gamble in 1994. The next year we won second place in the Weave Pole Knockout at 24".
Mandi was so special, I knew I would be devastated if I lost her. So, I started my search for a second dog.