By Terri Pols
It’s easy to trust God when the sun is shining, a new car is in the garage, your 401K is soaring, and you just got back from a Caribbean vacation. But how do you trust God when you have a cancer diagnosis, a rebellious son or daughter, you just buried a loved one or just received a 45-year prison sentence.
The answer is the same for all these scenarios. We must believe by faith that God is sovereign and is in absolute control over everything past, present and future.
On April 14-16, I had the privilege to speak to a chapel full of female offenders at the Rockville Women’s Facility. The topic was Trusting God with Our Troubles. The sessions brought truths that God is completely sovereign, infinite in wisdom and perfect in love, along with daily steps in cultivating a heart of trust. At Sunday’s chapel service, Rev. Ken Anema followed up with a focus on thanksgiving as an expression of trust.
On a daily basis these ladies are called OFFENDERS followed by their last name (never a first name), dressed in drab clothing, and may not run. (As I found out when I sprinted across the prison yard in the rain and was told to STOP). They have shameful earthly identity, but if they are believers in the sovereign God they do have a new identity in Christ. “But you are a chosen people… God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”