Defining Trust

Yesterday, I was blown away to find out that a fellow blogger quoted my writing on her site.  Please understand that it wasn’t the fact of using my words, although I was honored and so glad they spoke to her, it was the quote she used that got my attention.  (PS – Robin writes about a Courageous Heart here, go check it out!)  She quoted words about my grandfather’s suicide.

“Life will be full of moments that can define you, derail you or drive you.  You make the choice on how you respond.  The tragedy of difficult times is when we let them defeat us.  Refuse to be defeated.  Instead, continue.”

The timing on this wasn’t ironic.  The first line jumped out at me because today I was writing about defining my one word.

As I read it again I thought:

“Go about defining your life or it will define you.”

My journal defining trust

My journal defining trust

Defining Your Word

Once you pick a word, go about defining it.  Why?  Because definitions bring clarity just as one word brings focus.  It’s a necessary part of the process and what you’ll find is that in defining, your word takes shape.

When I decided on the word TRUST, I opened the dictionary only to find 24 different definitions.  My first inclination was to pick another word, but I couldn’t escape it.  TRUST is exactly what God wanted from me.

As I read through the definitions, two jumped out at me.

1. TRUST“confident expectation of something; hope”

One of my written goals this year was to start my 2nd book.  Back in November, I wasn’t sure when or how; I simply TRUSTED.  As I was doing some biographical research with one of the characters the other day, she shared with me that her story was about HOPE.  As soon as she said it, I felt a confirmation that we were taking the right steps.  Confident expectation; hope.

Here I am on January 7th making headway on research and I actually penned the first 570 words of my 2nd book a few days ago. 

This confidence, however, isn’t rooted in ourselves.  It must be rooted in God.  In our personal relationship with Christ as we TRUST.  Which leads me to my 2nd definition…

2. IN TRUST“Left in the care or guardianship of another”

Having spent the last 5 years in insurance, I’m familiar with the term trust and the conditions of that legal entity.  However, this definition provided a twist on my word.

After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, what did he send us?  The Holy Spirit! (John 14:26)

The Holy Spirit was left IN TRUST for us so that we could daily walk with and TRUST IN our Creator. (Tweet that)

As Jesus speaks in Luke 16:11

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be honest with much.  So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”

A challenge indeed!

As we continually seek to redefine richness and understand living richly, I encourage you to define your word; to write down what it means to you.  Remember, go about defining your life or it will define you!

MH

THE MY ONE WORD CHALLENGE!

This January, I'm inviting you to join with me in the My One Word Challenge.  Click the link to view more details.  In short, we're picking a word and sharing our stories.

Have you decided on a word yet?  How can I help?

Once you do, be sure to tell us about it and we'd love to share it on the site.  Every Monday, I'll be sharing 2 stories about awesome folks and their words!  Join in the conversation on Facebook (here) or Twitter (here).

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9 Responses to Defining Trust

  1. MICHAEL FōKKEN (@MichaelFoKKEN) January 8, 2014 at 12:51 am #

    That’s kind of what I did with my word. I started out with the word – Kindness, and then I changed to Love. But those didn’t seem like enough. So I moved to Compassion. Which, in my mind, includes the love and kindness I want to give to those around me, too! But almost at an even deeper level.

    • Matt Ham January 8, 2014 at 6:37 am #

      Michael – Compassion carries a sense of sympathy with it. It’s a heart matter! Thanks for sharing!

  2. Robin Merriman January 8, 2014 at 9:27 am #

    Talk about being blown away – I was standing in my kitchen, casually sipping my coffee and checking e-mail when I saw your post feed. “OMG!” came rolling out of my mouth and my hubby thought something awful had happened! Ha! So funny. Well, unless you were him, in which case it was not. 🙂
    Thank you for reading my blog and also for writing what had to be painful so that God could use it and you to speak truth into my life today.
    Your words are an additional encouragement to stay the course on this journey God has set in front of me.
    Love your writing and I look forward to seeing how God continues to use you in 2014.

    • Matt Ham January 8, 2014 at 9:41 am #

      Thank you so much Robin! Here’s to TRUSTING and living AWESOMELY in 2014!

  3. sharybary January 11, 2014 at 10:58 pm #

    Would love to hear about your first book. Is it available at Amazon?

    • Matt Ham January 11, 2014 at 11:02 pm #

      Hey Shary – thank you for stopping by and commenting! I appreciate your interest. The book is in the editing phase now. I am getting ready to release my ebook “I Am Here” soon. Please stop back by or enter your email address to receive a free copy when it does come out! Thanks again!

      • sharybary January 11, 2014 at 11:04 pm #

        Would love to have it. [email protected]

        • Matt Ham January 11, 2014 at 11:06 pm #

          Shary – you can enter your email on the homepage at http://www.mattham.com on the righthand side. You will get a confirmation email. Once the ebook is out, I will use that list for the free ebook distribution. Thanks!

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