Dear friends,

How many of you have been counseled numerous times and in different instances to never trust anyone? Do it yourself? Don’t relay on anyone? If you want something done do it yourself? What do all of these expressions have in common? As you all have read the word (Yourself). These words and this way of life are something none of us choose even though it might seem that way, but instead we were programmed and conditioned to adopt this form of life style. This advice leaves us in a very lonely and vulnerable place. I don’t know about you but I don’t enjoy being alone or doing it alone or suffering to myself and never having someone to vent to or give me a hand when I am in over my head. And why is it that we were taught to be this way? Because someone was hurt, betrayed, abandoned, rejected, abused and the list goes on and because of this we are taught to do the same. The scary part is we are taught to not trust anyone, even though the offense was not from everyone, but instead from maybe one person or a selected few. We are taught never to let our guard down or let anyone in or trust anyone, so we walk around feeling sad and alone and confused and in desperate need of help, but never seek it and instead drown in the process because of what we were programmed to believe.

I do not discount that there are awful, mean and deceitful people out there only looking for their best interest, but if we walk around always guarding and never allowing anyone in to our world, then how will we ever find true love, a true friend and The True God of our salvation? I speak from a person that has been there and done that and a person whose faith has faltered many times, but with every heart ache, betrayal, abandonment, hurt, rejection, I also found, true love, true support, true friends and the one and only True God! Don’t base your life on someone else’s pain or experience or on the lives of people around you. Try it for yourself, experience it for yourself, seek for yourself and know for yourself that God is real and He wants you to challenge His power and know that He is real! When you are able to lean on Him (God) and stop doing it alone, you will then find an answer to everything else you have been seeking (Matthew 6:33). Remember the animal who becomes prey to a predator is the one who left the herd (the bunch, the covering, the protection) and wondered off alone into the wilderness! There is power in numbers and there is power in God who strengthens you and not in you leaning on you.

Here I am leaning on You Lord, Pastor Elizabeth Z. Perez

Proverbs 3:5 "⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;"