Jana’s Journal: “Consider Jumping”

It’s fall and it’s my favorite time of year! I love all things fall, I love the colors, the smells, the weather, and the celebrations, I just love fall!! I’m excited for this fall because in just a few days my little sister, Roxane, is coming to stay with me for a week. It’s been years and years since she has been able to come to see me by herself. Her husband is going on a missionary trip so she’s taking this opportunity to come and visit me and my family here in Tennessee. Rick and Roxane had both come to visit one Christmas and surprised us, it was the first Christmas they ever missed with their families in California. What a joy it was for them to just show up at my daughter, Lyndi’s house. When they walked in Lyndi and I both screamed and cried and screamed again!!! They also came to Thanksgiving last year. But it has been several several years since it’s been just me and my sister. Thinking about Roxane coming, led me to think of our childhood together. It’s funny how a thought from our childhood suddenly surfaces, and we relive that moment. So that happened to me today while I was thinking about my sister’s visit and my monthly article. I believe that I was in the third grade and we lived in a duplex on a street called South Euclid, in Ontario, California. My parents had just gotten back together after a six month separation. That was a very hard six months on my mother and us three girls. I loved living in that house. We were surrounded by fruit trees and a walnut grove. We didn’t have much money, which also meant we didn’t have a lot of food. So I love being able to eat the fruit off the trees to my hearts content. Of course we didn’t tell mom. But that is another story, for another time.

My dad worked on a commercial dairy farm just down the road. I remember that my sisters and I were outside playing. It must’ve been my dad‘s day off, because he came out side, watched us play for a while, and then he said to my big sister, Sheryl, “I’m gonna put you up there on that roof and I want you to jump off in my arms.” He then proceeded to put her up on the roof of our house, and then told her how he wanted her to jump off. She stood there, and stood there, and stood there. She was afraid to jump off. He kept telling her “I will catch you do not be afraid!” he said “I want you to jump turn your body sideways in the air and I will catch you…..” she just could not do it. He pleaded and begged and tried every other thing he could to get her to jump off. But she would not do it. Then my dad looked over at me and said I know who will do it, come here Jana. I realized right then that I had to do it. I wanted my dad to be proud of me. I wanted him to think I was brave. I was very scared, but I knew I would do it. For one thing, I knew he wouldn’t drop me because my dad was very strong. I knew that he would catch me because he loved me and would not want me hurt. My dad needed me to trust him!

My dad put me up on the roof of the house, explained how he wanted me to jump off again, and said “Now jump!” So I did it!! He was overjoyed! He said I knew you would do it, I knew you would do it! I was so proud of myself, so happy that I did it, so happy that I made my dad proud. I did it several more times and finally Sheryl got the courage to do it. I don’t think Roxane ever did it.

I learned something that day. To trust someone, we must know them, really know their character. We must trust in their strength. We must trust our lives to that person, knowing that everything will turn out fine. That we will be safe, that no harm will come to us.

The Webster’s dictionary definition of the word trust is: A firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. I completely TRUSTED my dad to catch me that day.

Psalms 115:11, says “You who (reverently) fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and shield.” The definition, in biblical terms, for the word trust in that scripture is to have confidence, be confident, to be bold, to be secure, to feel safe, to hope. Trusting God is vital in our lives as Christians. We must trust that He has our best interests at heart. We must trust in his character, his strength and his love for us. We must Trust that He sees us, that He knows what we are going through, and that He cares for us and will make a way of escape for us.

Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed (with spiritual security) is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and who’s hope and confident expectation is the Lord!”

When Larry passed away, that’s when I really knew that I trusted God completely. I was at the edge of my ‘emotional roof’, deep in grief and sorrow and all I had was my faith and trust in HIM! He has never let me down! I jumped off that emotional roof into the loving arms of Jesus. He has kept me in my darkest moments and he has walked beside me all the way. I realized that, no matter what happens, no matter what we go through, no matter what struggles we face, even in death, the Word of God stands Firm! We can count on it! We can jump into the arms of His word and it will keep us!

Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him also, and he will do it!” Consider jumping into the trusting arms of Jesus today, casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you!

Blessings!