Do you ever have those days where you feel like screaming at the top of your lungs because of school and family stress but you know that if you did, every0one would think you've gone insane? Really, though, you're the only sane person and everyone else around you is going insane. Or so it seems. And have you ever noticed that grumpy moods are contagious? When one member of your family is in a grumpy mood, it seems to permeate the whole house. Pretty soon everyone has lost their patience, and you can almost feel tenseness radiating from each person. This is when our real character is revealed. We can try to put a pretty little mask over all our imperfections, but at some point the mask just seems to explode. Everyone of us is born with a sinful nature. That is why we so desperately need the grace of God. He is the only one who can wash us white as snow by his blood.

"Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow."

Trust

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His word;
Just to rest upon His promise,

And to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him;
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er.
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus;
Oh for grace to trust Him more.

As a child I didn't question why things happened. I didn't worry. I just trusted. Trusted in my Heavenly Father. I knew, with my child-like faith, that He would take care of me and everything would turn out all right. Isn't that what he says he'll do? He cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, so how much more must he care about me.

As a teenager, though, I started to question things—wishing my life was different, hoping my future would be better. Perfect, in fact. My trust started to dwindle. I still knew what God had promised, but in my heart I wasn't so sure I believed it. I knew I should believe it, but that didn't make me believe it.

I think this is why God has called us to become like children in order to enter his kingdom. We need to put aside all our adult worries about life and the unknown future, and instead come to Jesus with a simple, childhood trust. We need to rest upon his promises. He will never leave us or forsake us.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the LORD."