Chapter 3: God is Trustworthy

Chapter 3: God is Trustworthy

The primary focus of this chapter is that we can trust God, because Jesus trusted God - even as He entered into His suffering.

  1. Have you ever had your team participate in a ropes course or other team building activities? Describe what you and your players learned about trust.
  2. On page 62 Jim states, "My point is that God's fatherhood must define what human fatherhood ought to look like, and not the reverse." I have found that my players have often told me about fathers in their lives who were absent or negative influence. These young ladies also told me they had trouble trusting a heavenly father. I was raised by very Godly parents, so the reverse is true with my narrative, and I find it easy to trust my heavenly father. Which of these have been true for you or the players, who shared their father stories with you?
  3. A "cup" (pages 64-65) is that aspect of your life that makes it difficult to trust God. What has been your "coaching cup"?
  4. The soul exercise was a fun one, counting your blessings! I do this with my team every Thanksgiving and have found it to be very meaningful with them. I also began keeping a gratitude journal, which is running over with blessings that I have become aware of. What did you learn about God and yourself through this exercise?

P.S.....remember the idea for the soul exercises is to build on them each week, so remember: sleep, solitude, silence....!

Posted on Mon, May 17, 2010 by Jane Albright

5 comments (Add your own)

1. Stephanie wrote:
As a team building coach, one of my favorite things is to help teams build trust. I've noticed that one of the most important elements of that process is vulnerability. When one person is courageous enough to open up and share about themselves, it gives others permission to do the same. This creates better understanding of one another, which builds trust.

The same is true with God. Getting to know him better helps us grow in our understanding of his character and that enables us to trust him more. In addition, even though he knows all my thoughts, when I open my heart to him and tell him my joys, struggles and fears and then still experience his love and grace, this too helps me to trust him more.

The first "cup" that came to mind is related to my desire to be married. It's been tough to trust God with this through various disappointments. Sometimes being single feels like "suffering" and other times like a blessing! I know in my head that God is good and knows what is best for me, but sometimes I get duped into thinking I know more about what's best for me than he does.

Counting my blessings is something that I'm reminded of time and time again through Coach Kay Yow's example. One of her favorite sayings was "be thankful everyday." I tend to hurry through life, missing many of the blessings God showers down. I'm learning from Coach Yow how to notice the blessings and find the silver lining in every dark cloud.

I helped organize a charity golf outing earlier this week and unfortunately for the golfers, it rained almost the entire time. They were completely soaked after just one hole. A few of them reminded me of this principle to count our blessings when they came in and commented over and over how beautiful the course was -- even in the rain. They saw through the negative circumstances to the beauty around them. Great example for me!

Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 8:31 AM

2. janegal wrote:
very wise truths steph...thanks for sharing for us..vulnerability is very challenging in our athletic world, isn't it...but what you said about it is so true......and thanks for quoting kay....she is our true example of
a "kingdom coach" !!!

Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 10:55 AM

3. Kristen D wrote:
I could really relate to Stephanie's post on several fronts. I completely agree on the concept of vulnerability and how it relates to trust. It's almost like we don't develop that true deep sense of trust with someone until we have been vulnerable with them and vice versa. In my experience a lot of the vulnerability in player coach relationships has been result of hard times or failure. As coaches we want to be so strong for our players but more than anything they long to see our kind and soft hears towards them. The concept of vulnerability is the exact same with God....great point Stephanie.

The other thing I could relate to in this chapter is the concept of hurts from worldly fathers being a roadblock in our relationship with our heavenly Father. My father moved away when I was younger for truly great reasons, to start a church. Regardless of the fact that he was pursuing God's will, it was still extremely hard for me. I felt abandoned. And even to this day I feel like that has been a constant roadblock in my relationship with my Heavenly Father. But just like Smith said, "I now see how love that ha been proved can be trust even when things don't make sense."

Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 11:29 AM

4. Leah wrote:
First of all I would like to say that I really enjoyed this chapter. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things I struggle with as a coach and as an individual. Professionally, I think we are always striving for the next best thing…as it relates to a job or as to the kids that we are recruiting because that’s the way we’ve been programmed to think. We’re so concerned with our 2011 class that we don’t give the players on campus the attention they deserve. Or we’re so concerned about our next move that we don’t enjoy and get to know the staff that we work with on a daily basis. God is so meticulous. I think sometimes we forget that. He created us all for a specific purpose and has placed up specifically in situations for His will. As I read the opening paragraphs of this chapter I was moved because there have been several times where I’ve felt God as left me alone. Not necessarily let me down, but simply left me by myself and in that thought I’ve forgotten to count my blessings. Instead of opening up my heart, I’ve shut Him out and made the assumption that I could do things on my own.

That mentality is so far from the truth. As Stephanie stated, “even though he knows all my thoughts, when I open my heart to him and tell him my joys, struggles and fears and then still experience his love and grace, this too helps me to trust him more.” I couldn’t agree with her more. Even in these first three chapters, I’ve began to see changes in my thoughts, my prayers, and relationships. Doing so has only opened up more blessings. "God is trustworthy." We cannot simply predicate our thoughts on what might happen. If we trust Him and allow ourselves to be vulnerable the blessings that He can bestow upon us our countless. I’m thankful that our God is gracious and compassionate. Therefore, although everything may not make sense now, I’m excited for what the future holds and what God is preparing all of us for.

Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 1:50 PM

5. Charity Elliott wrote:
First of all, I'm loving reading everyone's comments. I just finished reading Chapter 3 and really enjoyed it. I was reminded of how much we have to be thankful for...the story of the white painting with the black dot made me really think about how we always focus on the negative...regardless of how many wonderful great things are going on in our lives. I really enjoyed the gratitude exercise. It challenged me to see the little things that I so often overlook...like the smell of honeysuckles when i walk around the block.

This chapter reminded me of the "Experiencing God" study that I did a long time ago. The whole concept that God is always trustworthy and His timing is always perfect! Stephanie, I went through alot of those marriage issues and now that I am married...I can only tell you that His timing IS perfect and HE is NEVER late! I thank God every day that He didn't answer some of my prayers about a couple of guys!!

Fri, May 21, 2010 @ 8:26 PM

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