Who Do You TRUST?

I was watching an old Tom Selleck western last night when two of the characters in the movie started talking about trust… and ZOWIE!  That’s all I needed for my eyes to shift to the right of my 65” flat screen that I was watching and refocus on a couple of portraits of Piper and I … one taken in 1976 and the other in 1991.

While the two stars of the ‘80’s western questioned their ability to trust one another, my eyes watered up as I quietly proclaimed: “Piper trusted me!”  There have been multiple times since her passing towards the end of 2018, that the depth and responsibility of that statement have hit me hard.  I didn’t necessarily think about it very much when she was alive and I was caring for her, because I was just responding, to the best of my abilities, to her every need.  It was simply an extension of the deep and intimate love that we had for each other.

But you see… Piper trusted me with her very life because she “KNEW” me.  She saw the “REAL” and “WHOLE” me.  I believe with all my heart that she saw in me, what God saw in me.   I’ve mentioned a multitude of times of how there were a few people close to us that made it painstakingly clear that they DIDN’T trust me in my care for her.  But as I have also stated before, whether they trusted me or not didn’t matter one iota to me.  Piper trusted me, as did our kids and that is all the support I needed. 

Don’t get me wrong… there was also a whole lot of others that supported me from within our circle of family and friends… as did almost every single one of the terrific medical professionals that we interacted with throughout the many years of our ordeal.*

Now please don’t take this as prideful when I say this but…  I also trusted me to take care of Piper because when it came to her, I knew exactly where I stood and exactly where I stood with my heavenly Father.  I had placed my confidence in Him on that very emotional evening on my knees, praying and crying over the diagnosis I had just received from her first MRI, in the far corner of the outside Garden Department at Home Depot, way back in July of 2007… and I NEVER second guessed Him or my decision.

I was confident that God would help me each and every step of the way.  When I needed wisdom, He gave it to me.  When I needed physical, mental or emotional strength, He gave it to me.  He supernaturally brought me into contact with information concerning new cutting-edge drugs, with skilled professionals to help me with a wide range of activities that we sought to accomplish over the years and with the education, information, physical tools and processes I needed to know in order to best care for her unique and special needs.

Yesterday I read in the Biblical book of 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 where the Apostle Paul wrote:

“Those who live in the Spirit are able to carefully evaluate all things, and they are subject to the scrutiny of no one but God.  For Who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord Yahweh well enough to become his counselor? Christ has, and we possess Christ’s perceptions.”  (The Passion Translation)

Paul is telling us that we who keep our eyes attentive to the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives, have the innate ability “to carefully evaluate ALL things!”  Pretty COOL right?  And that is EXACTY what I was able to do because I chose to stay focused on God and His Word throughout the entire time I cared for Piper.  When it came to the life of my wife… I made the DELIBERATE choice to listen to Him and the truth of His Word and not be moved by man’s opinions! (See: Proverbs 3:5-6 TPT)

The last line in 1 Corinthians 2:16 gives us the other KEY ingredient in knowing the right thing to do and the right time to do it!  It incorporates our ability to understand and realize that as a Christian… “we possess Christ’s perceptions.”  Many other translations say that “we have the mind of Christ” (KJV -et al) 

As I was studying this verse again this morning, I felt led to write in RED, in the margin next this scripture that I had just written down:

“And it is up to us to KNOW this, to EXPECT it, and to DEVELOP it in our lives!”

Just as Piper and I TRUSTED each other, based on the depth of our love, and our knowledge and understanding of each other… and were free to act on that TRUST… we Christians can function in the very same way with God because of our deep relationship with and trust in Him and His Word!

I never had the opportunity to ask Piper about what she thought of me helping her the way I did (although, I just might when I see her again!)… But I would bet you anything that she would say without a moment’s hesitation… “I just EXPECTED you to do what you did!”  As I would have, had the roles been reversed!

And like I said, it is the same EXPECTATION that I have toward God and His response to my faith in Him and His Word.

Can you say the same?  Hummmm… just think about it!

Have a great rest of the week, and as you do… Keep EXPECTING God’s best for your life… after all... what do you got to lose?

 

*There was only one doctor, a general practitioner at a clinic we went to for a few years for Piper’s physical needs, that I had an argument with concerning the use of the Alzheimer’s medicine she had been taking for about a year.  His opinion and our practical experience with the drug did not coincide.  Neither did his opinion based on the reading of an article agree with our Neurologist’s years of hands-on experience with the drug as well.