An Opportunity to Trust – Dave Dravecky

March 6, 2017

In my last article I mentioned that this year I’ve been focusing on my contentment and trust in God. And right from the get-go, God has been providing challenging opportunities for me to put that focus into practice.

 

Many years ago, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It soon advanced to stage four, and he was diagnosed with bladder cancer too. After major surgery, my dad recovered extremely well and at age 87 today is still in great shape. But because of his history, my brothers and I all had to be very diligent to be checked for prostate cancer. About two months ago I went in to have a follow-up blood test done where I found out that I had an elevated PSA.

 

Suddenly the whole idea of trusting God and being content came into play—I was filled with uncertainty. Soon I was making a follow-up appointment to find out if I would be diagnosed with the same cancer my father was.  

 

The results came back and, amazingly, everything came out just fine. My numbers had gone down and I was in the clear. When I called Jan and told her the news, she immediately said, “Wow, that’s so good! Aren’t you happy?!” To which I replied, “Yeah, I’m happy but…”

 

She was really surprised to hear me add a “but.”

 

I continued, “With whatever news I was going to receive today, I am very much at peace.” I have an enormous sense of being content right where I’m at because I really do trust that God is in control. And my contentment has developed as a result of that trust.

 

Becoming content is a life-long journey and there is always something that will arise to shake me up and challenge my trust in God. This recent experience has been a great way for me to better understand the power of trusting God—a God who really is in control. When I move from just saying that I trust Him, to actually doing it, that’s when I experience true contentment.

 

As a Christian, it’s easy to find the appropriate things to say but when pain and suffering come into the equation, we have to ask ourselves, “Do I actually believe it?”

 

Recently I’ve been reading through the book of James. This whole book of the Bible revolves around the theme of turning our trust in God into action. We often use the words we read in the Bible but when the rubber meets the road, do we really mean them? As we experience trials and learn to trust in God through those times, our trust in Him becomes deeply embedded in our hearts as a source of strength and encouragement.

 

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” —James 1:2-4

 

Even in the midst of contentment I was glad for Jan’s reaction to the doctor’s news. She reminded me that it’s OK to celebrate good news. We shouldn’t pour water on the fire of someone’s excitement over God’s blessings. While her reaction was one of celebration and relief, mine was more of an acknowledgement to both her and myself that this journey with God we’re on is real and His plan is good no matter what. I wanted to celebrate with her but also let her know that I’m in a different place than I once was. She knows the struggles and fears that I’ve faced throughout my life, she understands that fear used to be a huge roadblock for me for a long time. So when she heard that I am at peace and ok with whatever the outcome would be, she understood that God is doing a major work in my life.

 

I have a deeper level of trust in God than I’ve ever had before, and that is a really sweet place to live.

 

—Dave Dravecky

 

Dave Dravecky is a regular contributor to The Increase and will be providing monthly articles and opinions.

 

Check out Dave’s Increase profile here: http://theincrease.com/author/davedravecky/      

 

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