The sun is barely up, but my husband has already grabbed his phone and turned on a song about trusting God in hard times. “Though the storms keep on raging in my life,” sings the late gospel baritone Douglas Miller, “and sometimes it’s hard to tell the night from day…” The song—"My Soul Has Been Anchored in the Lord”—rings out often in my house because, like many families, we’re in the middle of a trying season.
Illustration by Hokyoung Kim
But God? Is He near? Will He help?
These are questions I’ve been struggling to answer, stressed recently to grasp clear ways and means of trusting the Lord in challenges. Through reflection and prayer, I’ve discovered several ways to help calm my heart and mind and to maintain focus on the One who has seen me through every time.
Give the Problem-Solver the Problem.
It may seem obvious, but the most vital way to trust God when we’re overwhelmed is to turn from that challenge and back to Him. Doing so could seem ill-advised since trouble can be so loud—demanding that we give it our attention, as if it needs the most and best of us.
But trusting God with a trial means taking it first to Him. The psalmist explains why: “God is our refuge and strength.” (Ps. 46:1). And then there’s the critical truth of Psalm 28:7: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart triumphs and with my song I shall thank Him.”
Let others help.
When hard times come, don’t isolate yourself. Draw close to believing friends. Reconnect with trusted family members and allow them to “hold up your arms” during the rough battle. During a lengthy battle, Moses was helped this way by his older brother Aaron and their companion Hur (Ex. 17:10–13). Strong help connects others’ steady faith to our own, like an anchor’s chain, so we can renew our trust in God.
Fear not.
Danger is real. Jesus affirmed this when He invited His disciples to cross the Sea of Galilee with Him. You know the story well. A storm arose, and the terrified disciples woke Jesus crying, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38).
After calming the wind and waves, the Lord posed a question of His own to the disciples: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Despite living daily with Jesus, they’d underestimated Him and His power. We can learn from their lesson—as well as our own experiences—that Jesus can calm any and all raging winds, including ours.
Tell God about your current squall.
The psalmist says the Lord keeps track of all our stormy sorrows, putting our “tears in [His] bottle” (Ps. 56:8), never forgetting any of our hard trials. He cares about us. Relying on Him, therefore, means taking time to tell Him our struggles and, by faith, asking Him to intervene. Certainly, the Lord already knows, but pausing to tell Him in prayer is a concrete way to show we trust Him to be the answer.
Commit to know God.
People and other things in our life may dodge and dart around, but God is unmovable. We can trust in Him even if our faith feels weak and we don’t see how He is going to answer our cries for help. Instead, if we depend on Him, we’re believing in His ability to be our God. Taking time to understand His constant strength means that when we need Him, we’ll know Him to be reliable to deliver and answer.
Look for sunshine.
Even during stormy times, the sun can break through. And so can the Son. Look daily for those moments that make you laugh, give you joy, and ignite your hope—and make note of them in a journal or the margins of your Bible. They are gifts from our merciful God, proof of His love that’s well worth remembering (and passing down to your loved ones).
Trust is an anchor that holds us fast in the storm, and as Christians, we are able to access the best “holding ground” of all—God Himself. Life’s storms will come, but by trusting God through them, we are held steady and safe in the knowledge that, whatever happens, we are close to the One who will see us through.
