I decided to follow Jesus 50 years ago. I was 5 years old. It certainly was a child-like faith then.  At first I was actually following my parents' faith, but it became my own even when I was still quite young.  It didn't happen all at once.  I gradually understood more about Jesus' sacrifice in my place, His forgiveness, and the place I held in God's family, even though I didn't deserve it.  My Sunday School teacher taught me the principles of knowing God more and developing Christian character.

And I grew up, trained as a nurse, married and had 3 sons.  

I was still very young.  My life was happy, exhausting and pretty uneventful.  My sister was travelling the world at the time, but my daily grind was nappy buckets and the sandpit.  Life wasn't exciting, but I wasn't concerned about that.  I loved being a home Mum, but I often wondered if one day God would give me a tragedy to test my faith, and give me a dramatic storyto tell about how he had helped me get through.  He didn't. Over those years I learned that God was shaping me through contentment with the ordinariness of life. 

Many years have passed since then, and I have now had tough times in life as well.  Getting through them sometimes felt impossible, but God never abandoned me.

In 1862, when Abraham Lincoln was 53 years old, his 11-year-old son Willie died.  He confided in his pastor that he was "driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go.” I can really relate to that.

I've trusted God when my life's been ordinary, and trusted Him when it's been tough. I've trusted Him when I felt like it, and tried to even when I didn't. I've even asked God to help me trust Him when it seemed too hard to do.  That's the best lesson I have ever learned.  Trust God.  He can handle it.