Hello there! Blessed woman! Awesome Sister!

Welcome to this corner that is specially designed for you.

As women, it is important for us not to forget the fact that we are specially, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14.) We are an after-thought and as such it is noteworthy that we take into consideration what God created us for and creating us after every other thing. The purpose of which God found you and me worthy must not be overlooked. Have you ever wondered why God said it is not good for a man to be alone hence the need to get a helper (assistant, aid, collaborator, co-worker, colleague, partner) for him? It is not good; meaning that man’s (world) life is incomplete and imperfect without you and I which goes a long way to show that it depends on us for certain things to work out.

Often times, most of us have totally ignored our calling and responsibilities because we look down on ourselves and the power that lies within. Some women have lived through this life without achieving their God-given dreams and goals because they forgot who they are and the reason behind it.

It is with earnest hope that articles that will feature on this column will give you a daily reason for not just living, but living for God through Christ Jesus, enjoying the endless joy and peace that come from the acknowledgement of the power and love of our Almighty God, fulfilling the purpose of your existence.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this idea and hope the articles that will be unfolding will go a long way in putting you in the right track to achieve and fulfill your God-purpose in your life as a woman.

Please don’t forget this one fact, indeed you are wonderfully and fearfully made- Solely transformation, empowerment and enhancement of lives!

Let’s start this journey to wise sayings!

TRUST IN COMPLETENESS!

Proverbs 3:5-8
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”

From the first day I set my eyes on this scripture, I have never let go. Apart from the fact that Proverbs 3:5-8 is my favourite scripture, I have come to understand that there are millions and millions of ways a small verse in the bible can make a huge impact in someone’s life if used accordingly especially this sort.

This scripture is simply fabulous! So assuring and challenging. The parts that I highlighted are not the only area of focus or more important but I would like us to concentrate on them so that we will be able to understand the trust in completeness.

The word trust is not new to anybody, even to the four-year olds!. Often times you come across comments like;
'' Do you trust me? ''
'' Will you trust me? ''
'' I trust you ''
'' I trusted you ''
'' I don’t trust him/her ''
And so on.

What is trust in the first place? From dictionary.com, you see the following meaning and definitions of trust.
1.   reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

2.   confident expectation of something; hope.

3.   confidence in the certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell merchandise on trust.

4.   a person on whom or thing on which one relies: God is my trust.

5.   the condition of one to whom something has been entrusted.

6.   the obligation or responsibility imposed on a person in whom confidence or authority is placed: a position of trust.

7.   something committed or entrusted to one's care for use or safekeeping, as an office, duty, or the like; responsibility; charge.

8.       Law.
a.   a fiduciary relationship in which one person (the trustee) holds the title to property (the trust estate or trust property) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).

9.    to rely upon or place confidence in someone or something (usually fol. by in or to): to trust in another's honesty; trusting to luck.

10.  to have confidence; hope: Things work out if one only trusts.

11.  to have trust or confidence in; rely or depend on.

12.  to believe.

13.  to expect confidently; hope (usually fol. by a clause or infinitive as object): trusting the job would soon be finished; trusting to find oil on the land.

14.  to commit or consign with trust or confidence.

15.  to permit to remain or go somewhere or to do something without fear of consequences: He does not trust his children out of his sight.

16.  to invest with a trust; entrust with something.

17.  to give credit to (a person) for goods, services, etc., supplied: Will you trust us till payday?
18.  trust to, to rely on; trust: Never trust to luck!
19.  in trust, in the position of being left in the care or guardianship of another: She left money to her uncle to keep in trust for her children.

—Synonyms 1. certainty, belief, faith. Trust, assurance, confidence imply a feeling of security. Trust implies instinctive unquestioning belief in and reliance upon something: to have trust in one's parents. Confidence implies conscious trust because of good reasons, definite evidence, or past experience: to have confidence in the outcome of events. Assurance implies absolute confidence and certainty: to feel an assurance of victory.

From the above definitions, it is clear that trust is a very deep subject and has to do with where and how you place the other party. Be it one person or group of people, the most important thing is the integrity, power, capability, competence and credit of the one we consider sovereign enough to trust. Our main focus on this topic is GOD thus we are going to explore what it is to trust Him in completeness and the gains of doing that with regards to Proverbs 3:5-8.

To start with, let’s look at trust in the Lord with all your heart. This simply means confidence, reliance, investment, commitment, belief, assurance and credit you have in God without any iota of doubt, fear or reservation.

Popularly, everyone claims to trust God and I am sure you will also say the same thing if I should ask you. But my question to you today is do you trust God with all your heart in all areas? “all your ways” Are there certain issues that are meant for God to cater for while you take care of the others? Yes you trust Him, but do you have doubt or sometimes try to do it with your understanding? Does anything give you room for doubt just as the serpent did to Eve? These are questions you need to answer in order to define the type of trust you have in God Almighty.

Q; Assuming you are traveling to a new place and all you have with you is a written address of the place. You hand the paper to the taxi man and he assures you that he knows the place, nothing to worry about for he will take you to your destination. The taxi man expects you to trust his words and wisdom but because of fear and doubt you sometimes along the way still ask if he is really sure he knows the place. Many of us are in the habit of asking God if He is really sure He knows what He is doing which I believe is not a complete trust in God.

The next verse says, lean not on your own understanding; what is your own understanding? The assumptions and doubts; fears and weaknesses, God knows that you may likely travel on that road on your own, but His worry is that you will definitely stray away if He is not the one in charge.

Trusting from one of the above definitions means, the obligation or responsibility imposed on a person in whom confidence or authority is placed: a position of trust. Now let’s look at this intently. Obligation and responsibility imposed on a person. If this is the case, I strongly believe that trusting God is simply obligating Him to do certain things for you. (Am not trying to sound crude). What I am simply driving at is the challenge God faces each time we utterly trust in Him. It’s just like when your child depends on you to save him/her from danger, of course you wouldn’t want to betray or fail in the confidence he/she bestowed on you, definitely you will want to prove that you are capable of saving him and also it is your responsibility to help your child hence you will feel so bad if you don’t meet up with your responsibilities. Same thing goes when it comes to our relationship with God, especially trusting him. We all know David as a man who constantly gets himself into one trouble or the other but hardly was there anytime he didn’t get help from God in those trouble waters.

David believed that there’s no situation he finds himself that God cannot help him out, he believed God! You cannot believe someone you don’t trust, in the same way, you can’t believe God’s promises when you don’t have trust in Him; it is as a result of David’s trust in God that makes him believe whatever concerns God and steadfastly holds God to His words. What a challenge! And this simple fact, God has also in turn straightened the paths of David. Normally there is not path that is straight all the way, in fact the bible warned us to be careful with the wide road (straight all the way). For God to promise that He will make our path straight, that goes a long way to show that somehow our paths can sometimes be crocked, thus it will be very wonderful to have it straightened by the Almighty and then we can tread freely without fear of stumbling or danger.

Why do you still doubt after proclaiming the true confession? Jesus said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, ''you will say to this mountain move and it will move.'' Our spiritual backwardness is as a result of our unbelieving hearts which is also due to our lack of trust in God. Today, make a resolution to start trusting God in completeness all over again.

The second part of this article will help open our eyes to the benefits of trusting God completely.

1. You have little or nothing to work on: this will take me to the next phrase of the Proverbs 3:5-8 “Do not be wise in your own eyes”. Do not be wise, don’t try to prove anything, don’t learn or work out anything. Let me do the hard work here, just sit down and relax and watch me do this free of charge for you! Is this not amazing? Absolutely! All you have to do is fear me (don’t be scared, just have regard for Who I am and my commands), respect me, shun what I will shun, love what I love, do what I expect from you and then watch me amaze you! This is God talking to you. Just imagine yourself winning a holiday package, getting that job without hassles, without being subjected to any ungodly condition, receiving a brand new car as birthday gift; think about all the good things that came on a platter of gold. Just imagine what the Lord is ready to do for you. We have failed in so many ways because we didn’t comply with the above instruction; do not be wise in your own eyes. Do you judge things based on your decision and understanding? When things happen, do you allow God to apply His wisdom or do you work on your wisdom and probably when you don’t get it right you sulk at God? Today my challenge is for you to cultivate the habit of seeing the finger of God in situations and depend on his wisdom totally.
   
   
   2. You have everything to gain by simply obeying: “This will bring health to your body” Health, a state of wellbeing and freedom from diseases or abnormality, soundness especially of body or mind. The state of being hale, sound, or whole, in body, mind, or soul; especially, the state of being free from physical disease or pain. Though health may be enjoyed without gratitude, it can not be sported without loss, or regained by courage. Wao! Just by obeying this scripture, I will totally be free from any ailment? But is it only spiritual health?  Not at all, also my physical health is guaranteed. Now how does this scripture apply to my spiritual and physical health? First, by acknowledging God in all your ways which gives you the sense of being watchful and considering him in whatever you do. Definitely you will stay out of trouble if you bear God in mind each time you find yourself at a crossroad. The only reason why we stray is because we sometimes act on impulse without listening to that soft and gentle voice in our inner soul. Because you allow God to have His ways, you do little or nothing hence saving yourself physical trauma associated with problems that may arise from mistakes and harmful decisions you take. You will also be sound in mind and soul thus experiencing the peace of God which brings joy, happiness and sound mind.

3. “and nourishment to your bones.” Nourishment has to do with food, so what is God going to feed us with in order for our bones to be nourished, strengthened, built up and alive? Blessings I guess; why? Because it is what is necessary for life, health and growth. He said, if you obey, I will bless you. Ref Deut 28. Because you trust in the Lord with all your heart, leaning not on your own understanding, acknowledging Him in all your ways, not being wise in your own eyes, fearing the Lord, humbling yourself and standing in His awe, simply shunning what is evil, the Lord is out to give you everything you need for life, health and solid background. What a wonderful thing!

On a final note, I would like to encourage you my sisters to consider the above topic and the issues discussed. For me, I have made a 360 degree turn and before soon, I will come back here, sharing the testimonies of my decision and adherence to Proverbs 3:5-8.

Do take care as we look forward to sharing your testimonies on this corner.

Have a blissful week.

Ifeoma Agumanu
Oshodi/Isolo Region

Additional helpful tips culled:
dictionary.com
Web search.com

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