I spoke in Ohio this past weekend and stayed with my friend, Liz Rao, who is Women’s Ministry Director at that church. She was a nurse when she met her husband, a heart surgeon, so she knew what she was getting into. But she has always been so positive about the many hours he works. So I asked her, “How were you able to keep a positive attitude about his long hours?”
She said, “I knew as a nurse what it would mean. And whenever he was home, he was very attentive to me and our son. But what has also been meaningful is knowing his heart.”
I was curious about that. So she explained that many times she has people tell her how much they appreciate his heart for his patients. He will give them as much time as they need to talk to him. One woman told her how he had performed surgery on her nephew and even though that had occurred 13 years earlier, the woman began to cry talking about Dr. Rao’s attention and care for that boy.
As Liz shared with me, I thought, “I wish I could trust God’s heart like that.” She didn’t take her husband’s behavior personally, as if he didn’t love her any more. And when God allows difficult things in my life, I can be tempted to think He doesn’t really love me. But trusting God’s heart, His desire for only good for me, like Dr. Rao wants for his patients and his family, can bolster me to recognize that God is allowing difficult things for my good and His glory. This is a theme I have to keep telling myself over and over again because I only want easy things. But easy things don’t stretch and strengthen my trust/ dependence spiritual muscle.
So…I must continue to learn to trust God’s good heart for me.