What if it's simple?

The peace of trusting God's provision

Apr 14, 2026

Last week, I celebrated a little self-directed “Spring Break.” I took off work, enjoyed Easter at home with my family, then spent a few days at the beach in San Diego with my best friend. It was heavenly — slow mornings, lots of reading, very little screen time, the ocean, good people, and yummy food.

It’s been a really busy few months (read: all of 2026), and the past month or so has brought up anxiety in me: Am I doing the right things? Am I being obedient to God’s Will? Am I loving people well enough?

So as I entered into this “week off,” I found myself gravitating towards reflections on divine providence. “Divine providence” is the idea that God is in and above all things and that He is always providing. It’s the belief that we do not need to grasp for control because we have a loving, good God who watches over our lives and provides exactly what we need, exactly when we need it. I’ve seen the evidence of providence across my entire life. God shows up faithfully, consistently, and abundantly, often in ways I wouldn’t expect, but in His wisdom and goodness, He provides exactly what I need.

So if I feel like I’ve read every book on divine providence (a few times over), then what’s my hesitation? Why do I worry? I think there are two roadblocks I face when wrestling to live in the peace of divine providence: it’s simple, and it’s scary.

Divine providence is simple.

Trusting in divine providence is deceptively simple. As St. Jean-Pierre de Caussaude offers in Abandonment to Divine Providence (pdf / book):

In reality sanctity can be reduced to one single practice: fidelity to the duties appointed by God. Now this fidelity is equally within each one’s power whether in its active practice, or passive exercise. The active practice of fidelity consists in accomplishing the duties which devolve upon us whether imposed by the general laws of God and of the Church, or by the particular state that we may have embraced. Its passive exercise consists in the loving acceptance of all that God sends us at each moment.

In summary:

Actively: Do your daily duties.
Passively: Accept the circumstances, crosses, inconveniences, joys, and blessings that are presented to you.

That’s it.

It seems almost impossible that life could be that simple. So much advice pushes us to do more, to sign up for a new program or challenge, to pick up new ascetic practices, and to suffer more to grow. But God, in His loving, gentle kindness, instead offers us another way: embrace the present moment, and live in hope.

I had a wonderful spiritual director a few years back who told me, “God is always doing the right amount in you. The enemy is always trying to do more or less.”

The gift of our faith is that God is always working in our lives. I’ve learned that the more we stay attentive to Him and to the attractions and desires that are in our hearts, the more we can do His will. If something doesn’t work out, we do not lose peace because we know that He is in charge. If an opportunity arises that we’re excited about, we can step towards it with hope (and detachment), trusting that God gives us everything we need to accomplish His will.

So if we can accept the simplicity of divine providence, perhaps the bigger challenge is the following:

Trusting in divine providence feels scary.

A few months ago at work, I was in charge of a major client event in another city. We had a bunch of supplies that needed to be present at the location, so I asked a few team members to help me coordinate, mail, and pick up the supplies. On the morning of the event, I found out that the supplies had been forgotten/were mailed to the wrong place. As I fumed in the back of the room, I vowed to myself, “This is why I can’t trust anyone.”

It is only natural to superimpose the weakness of others (and our own fickleness) onto God. But God is not an imperfect human who cannot be trusted — on the contrary. God is absolutely, completely, totally trustworthy. And He has a view and vision of the world and our lives that is well above our own: “My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.”

In that instance at work, we were able to access an industrial printer and re-print the supplies in the nick of time (God’s providence strikes again). But that didn’t prevent my anger, frustration, and hurt — because I had worked hard to make the supplies perfect. But was it really necessary? No. Did anyone notice other than me? No. Have I also made mistakes and let people down? Yes. Was everything more than fine in the end? Yes.

Trusting in divine providence means releasing control over what is provided, because we can trust the Who. And that is far more important, because we often don’t really know what it is that we want. As C.S. Lewis says,

It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

Our lack of control is a very good thing — because if we always got what we wanted, when we wanted it, we’d likely end up with many things that are not actually good for us (see: my lists of prayer requests over the past decade). God is the giver of good things, and His perspective grants Him a wisdom we don’t (and can’t) have.

So how do we live from this place, of living the truth of divine providence? Fr. Jean-Pierre is at it again:

In the state of abandonment the only rule is the duty of the present moment. In this, the soul is light as a feather, liquid as water, simple as a child, active as a ball in receiving and following all the inspirations of grace. Such souls have no more consistence and rigidity than molten metal… They are before God like a perfectly woven fabric with a clear surface; and neither think, nor seek to know what God will be pleased to trace thereon, because they have confidence in Him, they abandon themselves to Him, and, entirely absorbed by their duty, they think not of themselves, nor of what may be necessary for them, nor of how to obtain it.

In conclusion, Am I doing the right things? Am I being obedient to God’s will? Am I loving people well enough? I don’t know — I hope so!! What I do know is that I am striving to live God’s Will for my life, and that is enough. He can take everything and make it beautiful; He works all things for good! So there’s no need to be anxious about whether I’m doing enough, because I trust that He is using it all.

Here’s to a week of resting in divine providence — I’m in it with you!!

In Christ,

Jane

What I’m loving lately

Big ice roller girl

Adjusting back to the East Coast timezone is always a bit of a struggle for the first few mornings… thankfully I have an ice roller and she has been a LIFESAVER this week! I have this one but recommend anything you can store in your freezer.

A phenomenal podcast on Divine Providence

If you want more on Divine Providence, I highly recommend this episode of the Thomistic Institute Podcast!!

And a reflection on provision

I loved this reflection from Emily P. Freeman:“Look for Provision.” The more we name our needs, the more we become aware of how God is responding (hint: He’s always responding).

Obsessed with my new robe!!

The Easter Bunny got me this bathrobe I’ve been eyeing for a month from Brooklinen. I got very used to hotel robes and needed one of my very own! I got the “Storm” color in size small — but I LOVE the stripes too!

Coachella

I’ve never quite desired to attend Coachella (more of a Stagecoach girl), but DANG I had so much fomo this weekend watching the replays from Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber on YouTube. They were both so much fun, their music is a bop, and I kind of wish I could zip out there for weekend 2! Thank you, YouTube, for the gift of the livestream!

No crying on the yacht

I cannot explain to you how much I love this sweater I saw in Target last week (okay, mostly I love the saying on the sweater). I feel like “no crying on the yacht” is going to join the “not my circus, not my monkeys” elite level of idioms because it’s hilarious and also true. A good reminder for me — so many of the things that stress me out are things I prayed for! We are so blessed, let’s minimize the tears on the yacht and celebrate being out on the waves.

Wonder of the week

I’m going to go back to sharing my wonder of the week, in honor of my word of the year! This week’s wonder: Long runs with no rush. I loveeeee a run with nowhere to be — and last night I took a nice long meander around the monuments, stopped to check in on Lincoln, and enjoyed the spring-y evening. I think this is going to be a “slow down” spring for me, and I’m all in.

Prayer intentions

For Delaney’s birthday this week!
For a special intention

Discussion about this post

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