Today I walked with my newest friend, Sarah, down Main Street for an audio interview. The question was simple, but one in four men refused to answer it; some said it was impromptu and that they were in a hurry to get back to work. Others? IT WAS TOO DEEP. At first, I thought it was a joke, a little excuse for shyness, but after pressing on for another 30 minutes, I realised this was more than just an answer; it was a question leading to a deeper revelation. Our final contact, a Haitian, provided the response we had been seeking all day. This wasn’t just about two girls walking around with a phone recording people’s voices; it was about TRUST. Men found us harder to trust. He joked that our question sounded like a therapist's, and that he had even evaded therapy with friends by opting for morning jogs. By this point, I’m genuinely intrigued. How could one puny question ward off “big macho men”?

Per usual, when the world confuses me, I turn to its creator, and He never fails. Ezekiel 47 quickly appears in my mind—a bronze-like being guiding Ezekiel towards a river that cannot be crossed. He begins at the shallow end and says nothing until they reach the deep. After several hours of pondering the chapter, I fell asleep, curiosity still burning for an answer. I was on my lunch break when it came, just as with my final interview: TRUST. “Women trust God before He meets them, men trust God after they meet HIM,” and just like that, I, in true Daniella fashion, ransack my mental Bible stories. It gets interesting because, at no point in our Bible do we find a woman being instructed to “come meet God.” I asked myself many questions afterwards: why does Abba not put women through the hoops men have to jump? The simplest answer? We know how to be brides. The only thing God describes His church as is “the bride.” We quickly understand how to let Him take charge, a faith that cements itself upon hearing our mother’s stories. WE FALL IN LOVE because we are taught our entire lives what it means to be the Body and not the HEAD.

Time to flip the script. If women are raised to be the heart and men are brought up as HEADS, it’s no surprise they struggle to submit to a HEAD FIGURE much greater than themselves, even more so to one they cannot see. I readily call the Lord my husband, a lover, my father, the one who holds the key to my heart—all these are closely associated with femininity in today’s world—a world where men do not speak of emotions. To fully disrobe this false sense of masculinity masked to hide fear, He asks them to go deeper, to stop living on the surface, with every conversation revolving solely around FIFA whistles and economic downturns. To stop fighting every battle but their own. Abba calls us to sit in silence, to turn off distractions and draw closer. Father to child, SPIRIT TO SPIRIT. What does it take to please a being unaffected by wealth, seemingly wise speech, or prosperity? Obedience, Total submission, and Honesty—everything we fear about the deep end. So, the next time you read your Bible, pause and reflect on how many men, in comparison, were told: “Do not be afraid.” What were they afraid of? Well beyond an unknown loud and scary voice, it was meeting themselves, TRULY.

This message in 2026 is certainly not solely for men; many women are content to be hyper independent, but God calls us all to lean not on our own understanding and to cast all our cares on Him. The deep calls for submission, and to submit, you must trust completely. Now the ball is in your court: can you trust God?