We called it the Faith Course. Every summer, I’d hop on a bus to chaperone another group of girls from our youth group at summer camp. They played big ball volleyball on the sand court and wrestled over a greased watermelon in the lake. Those adventurous girls got bruised, but they never gave up. The last event of the weekend was the Faith Course. Each team would run together to overcome a series of perilous obstacles including scaling a ginormous wall and crawling through a dark, dirty tunnel.
The last obstacle was the Trust Fall.
The girls would take turns climbing up the ladder of the tall playground slide, and then they’d cross their hands over their chest as a youth worker placed a blindfold securely over their eyes. The rest of the girls stood at the foot of the ladder with arms locked forming a net to catch the brave girl at the top.
The object of the challenge was to fully trust your teammates. You had to fall back into their safe arms. Some girls required a little coaxing to participate. So, I would stand on the sidelines and cheer them on with a big smile on my face. “Go ahead, you can do this! We’ve got you.”
I must confess in all those years, I never climbed the ladder myself though.
I always stood on the sidelines and watched.
The thought of falling backward blindly terrified me.
When I started studying these two verses in Proverbs 3, I discovered that in the original Hebrew the word “trust” here is a picture of a servant lying helpless and facedown waiting for direction from the master. To “lean” means to “rest upon,” to “cling to,” “to be totally supported by.” In my mind, I immediately went back to those summers standing at the foot of the slide looking at someone else experiencing what I longed for so desperately.
I long to know God. More than anything, I want to fall back into His arms and fully surrender every part of me into His care.
But some days, it’s hard to let go. I am standing at the top of a figurative ladder shaking in terror. I just can’t submit. What He is asking me to do seems impossible. I’d rather just stand on the sidelines and cheer someone else on while I am safely on solid ground.
The victorious life of faith requires total reliance on our Heavenly Father. I’m praying this week for Him to help me really live these two verses out, rather than just look at them on the pretty magnet on my refrigerator.
This year, we are going to face many obstacles in our walk of faith. Let’s lean into the wisdom of God’s Word. Let’s trust that our Guide is working in ways that we do not see.
If we fully rely on God, He has promised to “make our way straight.” Pastor Adrian Rogers explains that this means He will “bulldoze a path in front of you and clear the way.”
Don’t stand on the sidelines. You can put your full confidence in your Faithful God. He will catch you every time.
Keeping the Faith,
Lyli
What a privilege it is to have Lyli Dunbar (LGG Mentor & Encourager Teams) on the blog today! Lyli enjoys road trips with her husband, connecting with women through Bible study, and reading way too many books. She shares how everyday experiences help flesh out her faith at 3-D Lessons for Life. A disciple, wife, educator, and mentor, Lyli is just a girl working to keep the faith day by day.
Journal with us throughout our Walking in Wisdom study as we dive into God’s Word together! You can find our women’s and corresponding kids’ journals on Amazon today!

A verse I memorized years ago…A question to myself, have I trusted in with all my heart? Also, a scary thought my own understanding!
Anne, I see we are asking the same questions! This is a great verse to memorize, and I am so glad that it’s our memory verse this week. Getting the verse in our heart and minds is a good place to start, but then we must move on to the application. This is the hard part! May God give us courage. Hugs to you!
I can so relate to this. I too tend to feel more safe on the sidelines cheering someone else on with positive words of encouragement versus completely surrendering. I know our Father is waiting for me to do so. Through my journey I continue to pray for wisdom and complete trust and faith to let go and let Him do his work in me.
May He help us be brave. Amen! 🙂
I can relate Barbara, It is very hard for me to step out and fall or leap into the arms of trust. I realize that when we have had so many events our lives that cause our trust in People and in God to falter falling in to the arms of trust is a very scary and hard thing to do. I tend to pull back and put up a wall around me. I need continuous prayers for this.
Hard to do when you break it down into real life situations, when you think an immediate reactionary response is needed. But really, we know what we’re going to face each day. Praying for the ability to “fall” may not be hard when we are a day in advance. Scary.
I hear you, my friend. Life throws lots of curb balls our way, though. This is my biggest struggle. I want to tie everything neatly up with a bow, but sometimes that’s just not possible. For me, this is where the trust issue lies. I must trust God even when what He is doing doesn’t make much sense. The story of Joseph in the Bible helps me with this quite a bit — His life seemed to be one train wreck after another with prison and enslavement as his future. But in the end, you see how God was working all along. In the end, he puts Joseph in the exact place he needed to be to save so many lives…. But Joseph trusted and waited and persevered. He had amazing faith. I guess that’s the kind of faith I pray for God to help me to have when things don’t go my way.
Silly us — why is it that we find stepping out in faith so scary, sometimes? Just like the girls at the bottom of the ladder had the one who was falling…so God has us. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Lyli. ((hug))
For me it’s the unknown. I always think something terrible is going to happen, but I need to remember that God is in control even when my present circumstances seem chaotic. He is at work — even when I can’t see it right now.
“I long to know God. More than anything, I want to fall back into His arms and fully surrender every part of me into His care. But some days, it’s hard to let go.”
Your words are so true and to the point, Lyli! When I am praying before my study time, I pray for God to lead me, guide me. I pray for His purpose and plan to be fulfilled in my life. Then, when I lay down in bed, my mind is racing trying to FIGURE OUT all the things that are going on in my life…I need to LET GO! I need to LET GOD!
Elizabeth,
Thanks for sharing that. I struggle in the same way. My brain tends to go haywire the minute I put my head on the pillow at night. One thing that has helped me is to memorize a verse or two that calms me down and reminds me that God is in control. I will repeat those verses over a few times and steady my breathing until my mind stops racing. If I am really struggling, I will plug in my earbuds and fall asleep listening to some worship music.
Such a great idea! I will definitely be implementing that! Thanks!
I too want to trust God completely. My question is this: How do we know what he expects of us? It can not be that he wants us to just let everything go and leave everything to him. (example: we are to train our children in the Lord, we do not just sit back and “give it all to God”, He expects us to teach our children about Him).
Oh, I agree MJS! I guess a good comparison would be the difference between Rebekah and Hannah in the Bible. Hannah prayed and went to the Temple and waited for God to work when she was praying for a baby. She trusted that God was at work. But Rebekah impatiently had her son Jacob fool his father to obtain the blessing. God had already promised Jacob was “the one,” but she wasn’t willing to wait and see how God would work that out.
I guess I am praying to be more like Hannah, and less like Rebekah. God’s timing and ways are not always going to match mine. Will I trust Him when I have to wait?
Thank you for your post today! Very uplifting!
Someone shared this on the LGG Fb page. It goes beautifully with the Blog Post today.
Love that, Sheila! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome teaching
I remember seeing these verses for the first time at Hallmark-about 11 years ago. They used to sell little wallet cards that had your name in it and underneath, a verse written . It was always hard to find anything with my name on it back then- because I don’t think my name was very common. When I saw this card, I knew it was for me. That day, I was visiting my grandma “Nana” who was sick . She was the one who got my family to know about the Lord…. but at that time, I didn’t have a relationship with Him… sometimes I still feel that way.. and it’s my own fault . I’m not in His word as much as I shoukd be or want to be.. I let my own worries and my own understanding & just doing things my way get in the way. If I’m not in His word how can I fully trust in Him? I think that’s why I’m always trying to figure everything in my life out on my own.. because I’m not in His word and Trusting in Him…and I can honestly say I hate it! I really hope and pray I can really change and put this verse into practice.
“Miranda”
Trust in the Lord
With all your heart
And lean not on your own
Understanding, in all
Your ways acknowledge Him
And He shall direct your paths
Proverbs 3:5-6
Lord, I lift Miranda up to You. Be her strength and comforter as she works each day to spend time.in your presence. Help her find ways to draw near to You so that her trust is easily placed in You and the time she spends trying to figure things out in her own strength is reduced. In Jesus’ name, amen.
What a blessing to know that when we take that trust fall, God will lead us in a way that accomplishes His purpose!
Lyli, I had never heard that Adrian Rogers quote before. I love it. God will bulldoze a path for us! Thanks for sharing what we all experience at one time or another. Blessings!
That is an awesome teaching! Like when Peter who stepped out on the water toward Jesus and then went down in the water when he got afraid. Jesus was there to catch him. He really does do this! Awesome Lyli!
Thanks for sharing!
Lyli….what a great blog today!!!! Thank you for the reminder…even if I am trembling the Lord’s got me!!!!!! Love you!!!!
When you begin to trust God, I must say it’s hard. Because the flesh believe nothing will get better but the spiritual man will say yes it is. When you know satan has sent one of his soldiers to destroy your marriage and family. It’s hard but you press. Because satan or person does not care. So I am asking for prayer for strength.
Unfortunately, yes there is an evil one in our world… And this “thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;” but take heart, dear friend, because the end of that same verse (John 10:10) gives us our answer… Our promise “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
May God strengthen you, and walk beside you through whatever valley you may currently be traveling through and bring you out on the other side with a more solid foundation of Him.
So far, I thoroughly enjoy the comments, feedback and words of encouragement shared within this group.
I love this blog! Thank GOD for LLG my first trust of faith is to hang on to his teaching.
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