I would trust God more.
Three years ago, Bill and I attended the wedding of Bill’s uncle Doug. The wedding was held at First Presbyterian Church, in Hollywood where Doug had been working as a pastor. At some point during the reception, I wandered into an adjoining hall and read a beautiful tribute to Henrietta Mears. It gave me goosebumps because of the stories I had been hearing about her for years. I had forgotten she had served at that church.
Henrietta Mears was born in 1890 in Fargo, North Dakota. She became a chemistry teacher in a public high school and became heavily involved in her home church, teaching a Sunday school class that grew in numbers over the course of a decade due to a rigorous system of small groups.
In 1928 she was invited to come to First Presbyterian Church (FPC) in Hollywood, California as director of Christian education. Under Mears’ leadership, the Sunday school at FPC grew from 450 to more than 6,500 during her first decade of ministry there. She worked tirelessly to develop Sunday school teachers and maintain complete curricula for all ages. While directing the program, Mears chose to teach the college class with an aim toward converting young men and women and preparing them for leadership in the worldwide church. A few of the young men she invested in include evangelist Billy Graham and Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright.
Her work with college students endeared her to me, as it was while I was in college at UW that I was introduced to Christ in a new way at a large Presbyterian Church in Seattle where one of the prior lead pastors was a man who--you guessed it—had sat under Henrietta’s teaching. I spent the next nine years doing college ministry so that I could point college students to Jesus in the same way others had done for me.
There is a story about Henrietta near the end of her life giving a talk to college students and then offering time for Q&A. Someone asked this bold question: “Now that you are nearing the end of your life, is there anything you would have done differently?”
Without missing a beat, she responded: “I would trust God more.”
I would trust God more.
In several seasons that has become my prayer: God, help me to trust you more. For a while “trust God” was my password for everything in hopes that typing it several times a day would help me embody it.
It is a good prayer for this season, isn’t it?
When I fear others will not see me as competent enough: God, help me to trust you more.
When I am anxious and angry about a difficult family circumstance: God, help me to trust you more.
When I am tried of covid protocols: God, help me to trust you more.
When I am longing for my life to return to “normal”: God, help me to trust you more.
When I am impatient with my children: God, help me to trust you more.
When I am longing for adventure and feel stuck because it is Monday: God, help me to trust you more.
When I am praying for redemption and it looks impossible: God, help me to trust you more.
When I fail and need to get back up and begin again: God, help me to trust you more.
When I spend all my waking hours trusting in my own deeds, or in riches: God, help me to trust you more.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. --Romans 15:13
Here is to trusting Him more, Claire Strunk