 Hey guys, this is changing my life truly and I need to share it with you because I think it's gonna change your life Too for so long. I've let my emotions get captivated by what's going on in my life Whether it's good stuff. I'm feeling euphoric where it's bad things and I'm just feeling down in the dumps I embrace this outlook of pessimism or just maybe Sadness towards the world and towards my life because it's just my default It's the way my brain immediately goes and I allow that to happen I think in a lot of ways I see my life as I'm next to a cliff and there's this bridge that I'm walking across and it's kind of rickety It's kind of old and in some ways As I'm taking that next step. I'm I have this fear Sometimes an overwhelming fear that the next kind of board on the bridge is going to fall out from under me And I'm gonna fall and that's gonna be it And so then there's this looming there's this fear and then other times There's a detachment from those feelings in order to find some sort of peace or to cope with it So I use different things to escape that fear to escape that worry to escape that anxiety And I think a lot of us experience this we were fearful of the bottom falling out from under us We have this looming anxiety about our lives about maybe our past We have regrets about our past and we feel the shame from that We don't really trust that God has forgiven us for those things and then also for the future We don't really trust that God is going to orient our lives in a way that we want to want him to And so we're scared that the future is not going to be good for us And and so in this moment we try to cling to control we try to cling to Planning we try to cling to strategy over thinking or trying to manipulate our life in such a way where we can be Okay, and it's exhausting and it's burdensome and and you get burnt out when you live this way But what I want to invite you to is a simple truth Happy is a man who trusts in the Lord blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord That's the verse that I've been meditating on this week from Proverbs Blessed is a man who trusts in the Lord happy is a man who trusts in the Lord different translations here, but When you think about it if you simply trust God if you Trust if that bridge all the sudden turns from a rickety bridge Something that you're unsure of that that you're kind of scared of okay. Am I gonna fall here? Am I gonna make it the other side into a sturdy secure trustworthy bridge that you're walking across? What does your life turn into well? It actually becomes a joyful journey and and you begin to take a look up and you see the majestic Scenery around of the mountains and the trees and creation and it's beautiful as you walk across the bridge All of a sudden you're not so consumed on the trustworthiness of the bridge But you have the security and knowing that you are you are going to be okay And I think that's what God is inviting us into is this assurance and the security in our identity in him and our security in him Knowing that we will never fall. Yes, we're gonna experience Trials and challenges in our lives and yes, we've experienced those things already but God is working all things out for our good and his glory He is a good father who we can trust and so we don't need to be scared that whatever happens next is going to Be the end of it. No. No. No God is working underneath the surface. He's working all things out if we trust him in that What kind of freedom are you invited into? What kind of what decisions are you making now? I was talking about this with a buddy of mine how I felt like so many of my decisions Just in like the years prior were made out of fear and anxiety and worry and not out of joy and delight and Trust in God. That's where I want to be oriented is trusting God Knowing that he is a good father that he cares for me and that I can make decisions now Not with the fear that oh my goodness if I make the wrong decision that my life is going to fall apart and You know, I'll lose everything and I'll have no hope and any of this It's like no I can make these decisions trusting in my God that he's going to guide me that he's going to lead me that he's going to be Present with me that he will never leave me nor forsake me that he is trustworthy And this provides such a supreme amount of security But how do we get to this place where we're actually trusting God because that's the crux of the issue in a lot of ways Trusting God and and just believing him is hard because his promises are so simple Like the fact that he he cares for us that that he is with us that he won't leave us for forsake It's like these are promises that we can believe but but we would prefer generally at least for myself to have um An orientation where we can control our lives or create some sort of strategy plan or enact this kind of three step Method in order to make our lives work and as long as we do our part then God will do his We don't like the idea of God doing everything because That takes the control out of our own hands and ultimately we trust ourselves a lot more than we trust God Unfortunately, how do we get out of this mindset? Well, something that's been helpful for me is Continuing to reiterate truths of scripture in my heart and understanding The character of God reverberating the character of God in my own heart Who is God? What has he done in my life? What is his track record? I preach this all the time that we need to be looking at where God has taken us from How far God has taken us already? Is he trustworthy? Yes, he is. I think about myself Over the last 10 years, I have gone from I am like a boy who was completely just kind of insecure and Also burnt out on trying to be a good person for God Didn't understand the gospel was consumed with lust was consumed with pride He's taken me out of that place to now being so much more secure in my identity so much more confident in the Abilities and skills and giftings that God has given me Given me this freedom over lust where I can pursue him wholeheartedly and don't have these big You know roadblocks of pride or of lust and yes, I'm still working on these areas But just how far God has taken me. I think about even this youtube channel and my other youtube channel as well Daily disciple I think about the fact that all these things are really gifts from God that that he has brought to fruition that I really couldn't have done on my own and he's given me strength to do it How gracious he's been been to me and enabling me to do this full time to be a content christian content creator That is such an amazing blessing that I don't deserve and so just looking at how far God has taken me it should Continuing continue to reaffirm in my own heart that he is good That he is faithful and even in times where there's been struggles in my life or challenges in my life I think of my mom being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer How challenging that was in my own life and in her life obviously and in our family's life Navigating through the questions and the doubts of god. Are you even here? God? Do you even care god? And bargaining with god trying to make a deal with him to make everything turn out all right learning in that moment that um in a lot of ways you have to let go of of Um control because you don't have control And I think and even seeing kind of my mom being healed in that just seeing god's faithfulness and and his Care I know a lot of people experience sickness and In their own lives and in the lives of their family members and their family members don't get healed And and how do we kind of see god's faithfulness in the midst of that? Well understanding that god and this is a tough truth for us to realize when we experience suffering in our life that god Is using those things in the lives our lives in their lives To ultimately draw our hearts more close to god to reorient our eyes back on to our eternal Um our our eternal love which is god and not on the things of this world not on the things our dreams Perfectly coming to fruition in the way that we want them to I guess my my mission my heart for you in this is that You would allow And give those fears and anxieties to god that you wouldn't embrace escapism in order to Kind of cope with uncertainty But rather that you would put your full faith and trust in god That he would be with you in your pursuit of your goals That he would be with you in the midst of trials that you're experiencing and hardships and sorrows That in him that in your trust of him that you would experience deep happiness and joy This isn't kind of a surface level happiness. Just oh man. I got a chocolate chip cookie today or you know And i'm super happy about it. So it gives me an immediate burst of dopamine But rather there's deeper transcendent happiness and security in god knowing that he is good knowing that he is Just there for us in the midst of everything that we're experiencing in our life He is our personal close friend who's walking alongside us This is the pieces of rest that you're invited to even in this moment So I just pray for you that you'd be able to step into this even Now this is a brotherhood of men that are looking to strengthen one another to lead and to love If that's something you want to be a part of you can subscribe like I was saying earlier and also you can become a channel Member that's the best way to support what we're doing here at men on mission and become a part of our discord That's how you get access to it. Thank you again for watching until next time. Keep pursuing the mission