In2theRiver

Good morning from Westminster, MD!

In my last post, Activating Trust in 2026, I shared my goal going into the new year. It is not much different than my goal going into 2025. My desire is to live with a greater degree of trust in the God who loves me and created me on purpose and for a purpose. To say it another way, I want to stop trying to control outcomes.

This desire for control really comes from a lie that contains a bit of truth. The truth is I do have a role to play in the outcomes and circumstances of my life. The lie is I that have the ability to ensure every circumstance turns out the way I desire. This lie distorts the good truth of living intentionally, instead leading me to put myself in the position of God. In my last post, I discussed the process of replacing lies with truth, a powerful tool for transformation. A key component of this truth is trust.

So, should you just trust anyone or anything? To ask it another way, does it matter in who or what you place your trust? Of course it does! Trust requires a level of wisdom and discernment about the trustworthiness of the object of your trust. Assessing the trustworthiness of someone or something is an important part of the trust-placing process.

It’s like sitting down in a chair. I am not the first person to use this analogy but I think it is a good one. Is it wise to sit in a chair without determining whether or not the chair will actually hold you? Obviously, the process is quick when it comes to a chair, but we typically go through an assessment process. Does the chair appear to be sturdy? Is it made out of strong material? Are all of the pieces of the chair connected properly? Are all of the pieces even there? Is the ground of which it is sitting stable? I could keep going, but you get the idea.

This all happens very quickly in our minds when it comes to a chair. Before we are willing to trust the chair to hold us, we work through a brief assessment process in our minds. This is wise. Have you ever sat in a chair without considering its trustworthiness, only to regret it? I certainly have and ended up on the ground!

The price you pay for trusting an untrustworthy chair is usually relatively small. You might end up with a few bruises on your body, and a bruised ego, but the stakes are pretty low. However, the stakes can be a lot higher in other cases such as trusting people. There are many great resources on this, but it is critical to assess someone’s character and trustworthiness before trusting them with something important. Like the chair, you need to do your best to determine if they will deliver on the trust you are placing in them.

Ultimately, we have to decide who or what we will trust with our self-worth and the outcomes of our life. In the Bible, Jesus compares it to building a house. Specifically, he refers to a foundation built on rock versus a foundation built on sand. The foundation built on rock will withstand the storm while the foundation built on sand will collapse under the pressure of the wind and waves. Question: Is who or what you are trusting to define your self-worth and ultimately control the outcomes of your life rock or sand?

Functionally, I often put myself in that position and I am most certainly sand. I am unable to hold up to the storms. This makes sense because I was never designed to be my own foundation. In my experience, there is only one foundation worthy of our ultimate trust: the God who created us and loves us. He desires the best for me and never fails, even when I do. The truth is He created us to place our trust in Him, and we are living our best lives when we do so.

At the end of the assessment process, trust does require one important step: we have to choose to “sit down”. Just like trusting a chair, trusting God requires action. In this case it is an act of surrender. This is a step I plan to lean into even more in 2026. It is not easy, but it is simple. The good news is the assessment is clear: there is no better place to put your trust than a God who will never fail you or give up on you.

Here’s to trusting God more in 2026!

James Belt

Click here​ for more resources to help you bring hope to others, including more information about my book, Hope Realized!