When I Trust God, Great Things Happen!

When I trust God, great things happen!  This sounds pretty basic, but the lack of faith that others and I often have prevents us from trusting God.  I can gladly say that for the past week and a half, I have put a lot of trust in God and amazing things have happened!

When I Trust God, Great Things Happen!

If you’ve read my most recent blog, you’ll know that I had plans to share six copies of The Good Life book by Trip Lee with my peers at school. You would have also noticed that I was very nervous about this. Fear was outweighing my faith, but now my faith has been outweighing my fear!

I read the book in November 2012, shortly after it was released. After I read the book, I understood that God would give me the joy that I had been searching for in other things. That changed everything for me. Christ used it to capture my heart, and I really want others to know that feeling.

In the past nine days, I have shared nine copies of that book with my friends and classmates at school! It went really well. I learned from an experience last year that when I share this with a person, I shouldn’t write them a two page letter, attach eight pages of categorized bible verses, and stuff it in their backpack without having the courage to tell them what I’m giving them and why.

This time one of my friends rejected it, but the rest welcomed it. A lot of prayer went into this. I feel that God called me to do this and that he helped me with what to say. As I handed each person the book, I said…

Christ has used this book to draw me to Him. I want you to have the joy that I have and I want you to live the good life.

Keep it short and sweet. I’ve also learned to listen to God. The past three days I have brought a book to school with intention to share it with a certain person but have felt that God was telling me to give it to another person. So I obeyed. I want to share the reactions of each of the guys I shared it with.

• Will said thanks.
• I was afraid that Jack would reject it, but instead he welcomed it! That was really cool!
• James told me that he had already received a ton of church books as graduation gifts, but he’ll look at it.
• Armand was intrigued by it and asked me more about it, asking if it was going to make him a better person. I told him only God can do that and that the author talks about what the good life is, saying that the good life is living by faith in a good God. He said he’d start reading it that night!
• Andrew sincerely said thank you.
• Colby was excited about it, asking me more about it, more about Trip Lee, and his music! He looked through the book and said that the idea being freed from the robot of life sounds really cool!

After sharing my sixth book with Colby on Wednesday, I was thinking GOD IS AWESOME GOD IS AWESOME GOD IS AWESOME! I wanted more books, so I went to Barnes & Nobles and got two more after school. I gave those to Alejandro and Brooks on Thursday and got one more book from a local store that afternoon.

• Alejandro welcomed it and asked me if it was that rapper’s book. He looked through it and said it was cool when he saw that it mentioned sex.
• Thursday I shared it with Brooks. He welcomed it, and yesterday he told me that he had already read half of it and asked me if I had read it, what I thought about it, and if I had any more copies of it! I told him I love it, that I don’t have any more copies, and that he can get it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
• Matt said thanks man. I was afraid that he would reject it, but I felt that God wanted me to give it to him and he welcome it!

Needless to say, I have been very encouraged and inspired this week. I was so afraid that people would reject it, but it was warmly welcomed! I have learned that when I trust God, great things happen. I want other people to know that because I want people to openly share their faith in Christ with others. Read Psalm 40:9-12 and Romans 8:28: We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. I had a classmate whom I had given this book to in January, and yesterday I told her that I had shared it with nine people in the past nine days and I’ve been learning that when I trust God, good things happen. I told her that I wanted her to share her copy with others, and she told me that she had already shared it with three people! That’s awesome! I want to see if I can get some more copies this weekend! I have three more days of high school! If I can’t get more or enough copies, I plan to tell each person whom I’d like to read the book the message I’ve been sharing with the others and ask them to get it on their own, directing them to where they can buy it.

As a conclusion, I want to share what I wrote for my most recent English journal assignment, “Letter to my former self.”

Dear Former Self,

Trust God. Do that always and good things will happen! Never assume that a person will reject Christ and never let that stop you from sharing Him with others. When you share your faith in a way that you let people know “I genuinely care about you,” they welcome it. God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. When fear outweighs your faith, trust God, stop thinking about what could go wrong, and start thinking about what could go right! Spend lots of time with God, and listen to what He has to say, keeping in mind that He wants good things for your joy and His glory. Obey always. Obey your parents and honor them in your life. Love people more, and don’t assume that you know what is on their heart. Be open to new relationships and closer relationships with people. Be kind, loving, joyful, patient, good, faithful, gentle, and use self-control. Always be confident of belonging to Christ. Speak of His faithfulness and salvation. Get more familiar with the Bible and how various scriptures apply to everything that you do. Make reading the Bible and praying a routine habit, but don’t go through it like your other routines. Cherish friendships; they don’t last forever in your life on Earth. When you trust God, good things will happen. Be encouraged.

Love, Fouad