How to Keep Trusting (When You’re Ready to Give Up)

Here is something that is hard for me to admit but needs to be said right off the bat here: I have trust issues.

Maybe it’s because I’ve seen too many people abuse power. Maybe it’s because some people in my life haven’t always been trustworthy. Truthfully, maybe it’s because there have been times in my own life that I know I haven’t been trustworthy. Or maybe it’s because handing control over to someone else feels like standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the crashing waves below—dizzy, unsteady, and one wrong step away from disaster.

Maybe you can relate. Maybe it’s because people have let you down before, or maybe it’s because life has taught you that if you don’t hold everything together yourself, it all falls apart. Either way, handing over control—especially to God—doesn’t always feel natural.

Because let’s be honest, when someone says, “Just trust God,” doesn’t it kind of feel like they’re setting you up for something? Like, “Buckle up buttercup, this is gonna hurt.”

And yet, in Matthew 11:29, Jesus says something that stops me in my tracks every time:

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

That’s a hard verse for me to wrap my mind around. Not because it’s confusing, but because it’s almost too good to be true.

This isn’t just a moral teacher telling us to adopt a nice character trait.

This is the Creator of the Universe—the One who spoke the cosmos into existence, who holds all things together (Colossians 1:17), who commands storms, and they obey. The same Jesus who cast out demons with a word, who raised the dead just by calling their name.

With all that power at His fingertips, He tells us this:

“Trust me. I will be gentle with you. I will not break you. You don’t have to fear me—I am strong enough to hold you, yet gentle enough to heal you.”

What kind of power is that?

What Does It Mean to Take His Yoke?

Now, when I first heard the word yoke, I thought of eggs. Maybe you did too. But Jesus wasn’t talking about breakfast.

A yoke was a wooden harness used to bind two oxen together so they could pull a load as a team. But here’s the thing—farmers always paired a stronger, more experienced ox with a weaker one. That way, the stronger one carried most of the weight, while the weaker one just had to learn to walk in step.

So when Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you,” He’s saying:

“Stop trying to carry this on your own. Let me carry it for you. Stay close to me, and I’ll take the weight.”

He isn’t piling on more burdens. He’s lifting them.

That’s not how we usually think about surrender, is it? We think handing control over to God means giving up our freedom like He’s just waiting to make our lives harder. But that’s not what He’s offering.

He isn’t asking us to bow down under a heavy load. He’s inviting us to let Him carry it for us.

Why Is Trusting Him So Hard?

I think for most of us, surrender feels impossible because we’ve been burned before. We’ve trusted people who turned out to be unreliable. We’ve handed our hearts over to people who didn’t handle them well. We’ve been let down.

So when God asks us to trust Him, we hesitate. We brace for impact.

Because what if He lets us down too?

And yet, Jesus is not like them. He doesn’t lead with control. He doesn’t rule with force. He doesn’t demand blind obedience.

He leads with gentleness. With kindness. With humility.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met someone with real power who wasn’t a little intimidating. Most people who have power want to make sure you know they have power. They make you feel small just by being in the room.

Jesus isn’t like that. He doesn’t use His strength to dominate. He doesn’t need to prove anything. He doesn’t force us to follow Him out of fear.

Instead, He says, “Come to me.”

He is strong enough to carry us, but gentle enough to never break us.

Real Strength Is Safe

Somewhere along the way, we got this idea that trusting God meant preparing for the worst. Like handing Him control was basically inviting suffering into our lives.

But look again at what Jesus is actually saying.

He doesn’t say, “Come to me, and I’ll make things harder.”

He doesn’t say, “Take my yoke, and I’ll give you more to carry.”

He says, “You will find rest for your souls.”

Does that sound like someone waiting to crush you? When we come to Jesus, we don’t find a harsh taskmaster.

We find a refuge. A shelter. A safe place to land.

What This Means for You

I don’t know what you’re carrying right now.

Maybe it’s the weight of trying to be strong for everyone else while you feel like you’re barely holding on.
Maybe it’s regret—the kind that creeps in at night and whispers, “You should’ve known better.”
Maybe it’s fear—the kind that keeps you from ever letting your guard down, even with God.

But here’s what I need you to hear:

Jesus isn’t waiting to make things harder for you. He’s not standing off in the distance, arms crossed, waiting for you to prove yourself.

He is right here. Close enough to lift what you can’t carry.

And when you finally stop trying to hold it all together on your own, when you finally let Him take the weight—you’ll realize He was never going to crush you.

He was always going to catch you.

And that’s where rest begins.

☕ A little faith, a little courage, and a whole lot of stubborn joy. – Tonya

What’s the hardest thing for you when it comes to trusting God? Drop a comment—I’d love to hear your thoughts!