​Trust Fall – Definition 
A trust exercise with many variants, all having the main goal in common of catching a deliberately falling person, to reaffirm the trust of the falling person in the person(s) that is catching/supposed to catch him/her. (Urban Dictionary)

Sometimes trusting God feels like willingly falling backwards. You take a deep breath, relinquish control under the gravity of the moment, and while you can’t SEE the outcome of the downward descent, you BELIEVE with childlike faith that the heavenly Father is right there to catch you. Not only that, but he catches every burden you tried to carry on our own and finally dropped out of your hands right before the collapse. 

I want to be better at trusting like this – falling in humble surrender to the only person who can truly save me, practicing over and over, in any and every situation, no matter how trivial or how dire, what it means to “trust fall” into the arms of Jesus. So often I forget to do this and so often it needs to be done. 
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I seem to forget that the only hands I should rely on are His, that the only power I should count on is His. Do I think that I am God and He is not? Of course not! But, are my thoughts, conversations and actions saying the contrary? Why do I seem to forget how much I need Him, or that without Him I am nothing? I hate how I get so distracted sometimes and forget that He is enough. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about this these past few weeks in leu of the pandemic facing our world. I have to be honest that a couple of times I have caved into self pity, and fear and allowing the times to overwhelm the promises of God I know to be true. So I have literally been repeating these two words in my mind, “Trust Fall…..”

Maybe as a culture, even the Christian culture, we’ve got it backwards? Maybe the notion of “standing on our own two feet” is actually a problem? What do you think would happen if we as a society actively practiced the great exercise of trust-falling into the arms of Jesus instead of striving towards self reliance? After all, we were never meant to be the hero in our life’s story. The truth is that we are not enough and that’s ok. Thats actually how we are designed to be … dependent on our Creator. 

Let’s resolve right now not to fight the fall or try to avoid it by making things happen or not happen on our own. (Guys, I am so talking straight to myself right now too. ) Let’s embrace the fall, trusting in His hands, His will, His might, His peace, His love and not anything or anyone else. He is the only one who will consistently catch us each time. If we think other people or things are an adequate substitute, we are bound for injury if we trust fell in their direction. 

So how is something that sounds so easy, so hard sometimes? Well, try doing a trust fall, physically, and you’ll experience how foreign it feels to commit to trusting the person behind you. The same conflict applies from a spiritual standpoint as well, since trusting God is not always easy peasy. Like Jesus says, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

Even Jesus who was the absolute greatest model of how to trust the Father, sweated drops of blood the night he was to be betrayed. But with this response, “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done,” (Luke 22:42) He shows us just how he would take the greatest trust fall of all, even unto death and separation from His father on the cross.  

Lord, please help us during this time to trust you completely. Over and over again. Throughout the day, even throughout the next hour. Help us surrender completely to your will and in that find the peace that passes all understanding. That you alone would receive all the glory and that we would remember that everything good in our lives is from You and not of our own making. 

​Amen