Learning to Trust

David Meece sings a powerful song called "Learning to Trust." Meece had an alcoholic father who left home when he was still a kid. You might have had an alcoholic mom or dad, or had a parent leave home when you were a child. Or maybe you've felt the pain from a parent who's let you down, not getting everything right as they ought in raising you, loving you, protecting you...being the one you wanted him or her to be. Meece puts it this way:

There's a father in your sweetest dreams
Who's always there to meet your needs
He never ever lets you down.
There's a mother in your heart of hearts
Who always plays the perfect part
She never lets you hit the ground.

This is the need of children
These are their tender dreams
And oh how it hurts when they don't come true...

Meece goes on to sing about our learning to trust in God, the One who always gets it right and never lets us down. If you're like me, once my heart has been broken by betrayal of any kind, it's hard for me to trust again...to trust anyone, not just the one who hurt me.

Each of us acts out of our pain and mistrust in our own way. But until the pain is healed and we learn to trust the Lord, daily we miss the love and peace and purpose He has for us.

Keep calling me drawing me closer
Don't let me hold back
Whatever it takes I must break through
The heart of a child is broken
But his time has come
Whatever he lost
I'll find in You

The Bible tells us that God promises to be a father to the fatherless. Many people read those scriptures and think only of orphans---children whose parents have died. But there's another promise we can cling to, those of us who have been let down, disappointed, even abandoned by our parents. Our parents may still be living; we ourselves may now be adults. But God's promise in Psalm 27:10 remains.

Though your father and mother forsake you, the LORD will receive you.

God is worthy of your trust. If every one on the earth betrays you, God will not. Not ever. What's more---in God you will find healing for the broken pieces of your heart and discover everything that you lost as a child, rescued and restored and returned to you.