In our series The Shadow, we've been looking back into the Old Testament to see the foreshadowing of Jesus and the message of Easter.  One of the accounts we looked at in the Old Testament was the story of Abraham and Isaac.  You can watch the message here!  In the account of Abraham and Isaac we learn about sacrifice and a father willing to sacrifice his son.  It points to Jesus and how one day God would willingly let Jesus be sacrificed for your sins and mine.  In the epic story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham was asked to trust God's plan.

Trust is hard.  Trusting God is even harder.  It's hard to trust someone you can't see and to trust Him with things that seem to go so against the culture we live in.  But trusting God is one of the main pathways to our "best life".

Here's 4 Habits you can begin now to help you trust God more:

1.  Take a small step of faith that requires you to trust.  Decide in advance that this is how you will respond.  For example, take a step to increase your giving by some amount and trust God to take care of you and provide for you.  Or trust God in a relationship by making a commitment to reach out to the person where there has been hurt.  Small steps of trust lead to bigger steps of trust.  The more you see God's faithfulness, the easier it is to trust Him.

2.  Obey right away.  If you give yourself time to analyze and over-analyze everything you'll never take steps of faith & you'll never develop the ability to trust.  Trust, ultimately requires some faith.  When you know God wants you do something DO IT.  Don't give yourself time to talk yourself out of it.

3.  They accept suffering.  Yay!  That sounds like fun, huh?  We do everything we can to avoid anything hard in life, but some of the people I know that trust God the most and have the most beautiful lives, have walked through difficult life circumstances and continue to follow Jesus.  Hardship will come.  Trust that God knows and cares and that He can even bring something good out of the pain you face.  Many of our deepest and most impactful lessons come through pain.  

4.  It's easier to trust someone you know.  So, spend time reading the Bible, praying, connecting with God.  The more you get to know Him, the easier it will be to trust Him, plus you'll see the promises and faithfulness of God in the lives of so many others who have went before you.