ABUSE: Where Trust is Born

Maybe you've been betrayed, abused, abandoned, or deeply hurt by people you should have been able to trust and it's hard for you to trust anyone. You've been hurt too often. That's Gal's story, too.


Most dogs are pretty aggressive in meeting strangers by coming right up to you, maybe even on you, but not Gal. She retreats when she sees people. She cowers and she trembles because she had been severely abused by several previous owners before she came to a safe home. She has a hard time even trusting people who want to treat her right, but she's missing a lot of loving that way. Wounded, afraid to trust, and missing a lot of love - that's not just the life story of abused dogs, it's the life story of millions of people.



It might be hard for you to trust someone who wants to treat you right, maybe even the Person who wants to give you the deepest love a human being can ever experience — God. You're not even sure how you feel about Him. There have been tragedies you don't understand and questions unanswered.


Even though the children sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know," you can't join their song because you haven't really trusted Him with everything you have. You've never really experienced this one "never leave you" love. That is, in fact, the promise Jesus makes to those who belong to Him. "Never will I leave you; Never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).


If you struggle to trust even the God who has the love and healing you need, consider Romans 8:31-32 , "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?"

God says if you want to know that you can trust Him, go to His Son's cross. The only way for you to belong to God is to have the death penalty for your sin paid, and God gave up His Son to pay it. God doesn't want to lose you, because He really does love you. Just look at His Son, hanging on that bloody cross, pouring out His life in exchange for yours. Stand at the foot of that cross. You have finally found the one person you can totally trust. This Savior who loves you enough to die for you will never betray your trust. He will never do you wrong!


Trust is born at the cross of Jesus when you let the walls around your wounded heart finally come down and you say, "Jesus, I need a Savior. I need to be forgiven. I need Your love. Jesus, I'm Yours." If you've never done that, let today be the day the healing begins.


There's more love waiting for you than you ever imagined you could have. The arms of Jesus are wide open, extending to you hands with nail scars in them—proof of how much He loves you. Now, it's your move.