In an article for Campus Life magazine, Susan Smart describes her third—and nearly last—solo flight. She had been practicing a maneuver at 5,000 feet when she lost control and her Cessna 150 began spinning wildly toward earth. After several seconds of panic, she recalled her instructor's words: "If you ever go into a spin in a Cessna 150, just let go of the controls. It's built to fly on its own."

Susan shouted to herself several times, "Let go!" Finally, she yanked her hands from the controls and covered her face. After some wild yawing and pitching, the plane returned to level flight. She had fallen more than half a mile, but she survived because she had the faith to let go.

Her experience vividly illustrates what it means to trust God in a time of crisis. I know that's hard to do when it feels as if everything in our lives is spinning wildly out of control. Our feelings cry out for us to panic, to doubt His promises, to ignore or disobey His instructions, and to try to solve things without Him. But those responses are futile.

In Psalm 31, David cried out to the Lord in his time of trouble. He knew that his only hope was to put his situation in God's hands and rely on Him.

Is your life in a spin? Let go of the controls!  — David C. Egner