What Happened When I Took Jesus Seriously

There’s a reason this question keeps tugging at my heart. Trusting God’s Word isn’t something I figured out once and then mastered. It’s been layered. Built slowly. Strengthened in some seasons, questioned in others. And honestly, there have been moments it needed to be rebuilt.

There was a time in my life when I realized I didn’t just want to believe in the Savior, I wanted a relationship with Him.

I wanted to know Him.

Not through familiarity or secondhand faith, but personally.

And if I’m being honest... that desire grew out of uncertainty.

Life felt shaky, and I needed something solid to stand on.

Around that time, I remembered something President Russell M. Nelson once shared. He talked about reading every reference to Jesus Christ in the Topical Guide, and how doing that changed him. Changed him!

I remember sitting with that for a minute.

If that kind of intentional focus could change a prophet, what might it do for someone like me?

So I tried it.

I opened the Topical Guide and started reading every reference to Jesus Christ. All of them.

I assumed it would feel academic, maybe even overwhelming.

It didn’t.

It felt personal.

Intimate.

Like being reintroduced to the Savior over and over again until His character became unmistakably clear.

His compassion.

His consistency.

His patience with people who were still figuring things out.

Wow.

Somewhere in that process, I changed too.

My trust deepened, not because my questions disappeared, but because I was learning who He really is.

At the same time, I began writing down God’s promises.

Not the neat, framed ones we quote easily, but the ones I needed when I felt tired, unsure, or quietly disappointed. I needed to see them. To return to them when doubt crept in.

I now have an art print filled with God’s promises (photo above) and hang it near our family photos. That placement felt intentional.

I see it every day.

Some days it feels comforting.

Other days it feels confronting.

But it always reminds me of the same truth.

God kept His promises then. He will keep them now.

Trusting God’s Word hasn’t meant I never wrestle.

I still do.

But it has meant I know where to return.

It has meant letting past faithfulness speak into present uncertainty. Choosing remembrance when fear feels louder. Letting truth steady me when my emotions want to run the conversation.

Maybe that’s what trust looks like.

Not certainty.

Not perfection.

But practice.

A quiet, repeated turning back to a God who has already proven Himself faithful.

So I’ll leave you with this question, one I’m still living into myself.

What has your journey with trusting God’s Word looked like?

Where did it begin, and where might God be inviting you to go deeper now?