Have you ever played trust fall as a kid? It’s where you fall back into someone’s arms and they have to catch you, your eyes are closed as you trust and fall back into their arms.

I always had anxiety playing; for example, I often looked over my shoulder just before I was going to fall even double or triple checking to see if the person was getting prepared to catch me. It should be noted, the last thing I ever wanted to do was fall straight back and look like a fool when the person who was supposed to catch me didn’t.

The game trust fall requires blind trust. The fear of falling affects so many people, there is even a scientific name for it (basophobia in case you were curious).

In a lot of ways, the trust fall game is like our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

In the game of trust fall, it is scary to fall backward often looking over your shoulder to see if the person is still there.

Don’t we do this with Jesus too?

Are you there, we ask?

Can you hear me, we ask?

What we really want to know is will you catch me when I fall?

The answer for some of us will be yes, I know Jesus will catch me when I fall, but there are those of us who are still in the perpetual mountain state.

Where we go round and round with Jesus, we trust yet we haven’t let go completely enough to rely on Him in every area of our lives.

How can playing the trust fall game with Jesus actually make your life better?

Scared to Trust

Feeling scared to trust Jesus is completely normal, just like in the game of trust fall. The more times we play the game the more likely we are to trust Jesus again and again.

In the game, we typically don’t rely on just anyone to catch us

We typically pick a good friend, someone who we can count on to catch us. Our walk with Jesus is no different. He wants to be our trusted friend someone we can rely on to catch us when we fall or when we have a problem too big to handle.

Who or what is your safety net?

As a Christian, it is not always easy to trust God enough to make Him your top priority.

Who or what you rely on is a big deal. It has the power to change you for the better or worse.

Things getting hard can lead to alcoholism, addiction and masking the pain of the situation you are going through.

When you rely on God, however, to get you through the hard times, your burden is lightened you are no longer going it alone.

The Power of Reliance

Over the years God and I have been playing a trust fall game of our own. The first time I consciously chose to trust God was when I had cancer. I chose to put all my eggs in His basket, at the time I had no idea what the outcome would be but I trusted even though I felt so very far away from God. You can read more about this personal devotional here.   

In the game of trust fall, we don’t know if anyone will catch us, but if we are to play the game we are taking a chance that they will. Just as we take a chance on Jesus and trust anyway even when we don’t know the outcome.

Biblically we can look at 1 Peter 1:8

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy”, 

1 Peter 1:8

It is through this verse that we come to understand that our trust in God leads to joy.

Mental State is Key

In the trust fall game, as in life, our mental state is key. Do you ever visualize all the negative outcomes of a situation? And as a result of the negative outcomes you’ve visualized you base your decision of not doing something on what you think might happen.

It’s like I did with the trust fall game where I thought about the person not catching me and falling straight back looking like a fool.

When I was a kid, I took this scenario further and envisioned everyone laughing at me resulting in feeling socially awkward.

I thought about all the negative things that could happen convincing myself I couldn’t and didn’t want to play the game.

I played this negative scenario in my head and almost psyched myself out of playing the game altogether.

Negative Thoughts Matter

Have you ever taken a thought captive? Repeated it over and over in your head until you psyched yourself out of doing something.

Like, say giving a speech in front of a lot of people or starting your own business.

You think you couldn’t possibly do the thing that you’ve always wanted to because…

The fear of the unknown is scary!

Here’s a little secret I’ve learned from listening to God through the years…

God wants to give us all that we deserve and more so that His name will be glorified in the process.

Don’t let the fear of not knowing the outcome hold you back from who God wants you to become.

Instead, try visualizing all the things that could go right. What if you wrote a new better version of the scenario? What if you prayerfully sought God through the thing that you are scared to do? I think you would see a new story emerge for your situation.

Could you give the speech, write the book, start the business?

I have been that scared to try afraid to fail girl too many times only by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit am I able to get to the other side of the thing I was scared of and grow in the process

Position Yourself

When you fall you have to position yourself. You have to be in the position God needs you in, in order to be caught. In the game of trust fall you physically have to get ready, in your mind and your body by closing your eyes and letting your body lean back and let gravity take effect. You then feel the familiar hands of a trusted friend on your back, helping you rise to your feet once more.

In order to fall though you had to be in position.

Years ago I closed my home daycare business. I agonized over the decision day and night, mostly because I didn’t have a clear answer to what would happen next. Every time I got scared a mental image would come to mind of me falling off a cliff and being caught by a huge net. God was telling me not to worry, He’d catch me.

As I look back I realize I had to be in position. I had to close the business and let God grow me in other ways.

If I hadn’t been in position then I probably wouldn’t be writing to you now.

What could God be positioning you for?

Consider This

First of all, consider the game of trust fall as life with God; a constant state of trusting, falling and catching. By putting trust in Jesus to be the one to catch you even when you are scared will undoubtedly bring you joy. Further, when you let go of being scared, rely on Jesus, mentally prepare and position yourself right in front of Him, He certainly can catch you. Lastly, trust in Jesus requires you to take action. Give yourself permission to do the thing that scares you anyway.