When life is smooth sailing, we may forget to surrender it to God. It’s easy to get caught up in the to-do list as the sun rises, while the routines and rhythms of life keep us busy. In fact, when things are going well, without intention, we might slip into some spiritual stagnancy. Just as easily, we may even begin to expect an undisrupted week, month or year.
However, when we run into an unexpected circumstance, we will undoubtedly find ourselves at the crossroads of fear and surrender. The sudden realization that being independently driven, or that relying on oneself doesn’t promise security, will quickly disrupt still waters. Soon, everything that could go wrong consumes our minds.
Anxiety rises like the tide, ready to carry away with it everything that we’ve come to rely on. Before we know it, a clear and peaceful path is overcome with rough waters, just like the tide overcomes the sand.
So, we begin to battle reliance on ourselves against reliance on God. The problem of course, is that the two cannot co-exist. Yet, the fear of handing over our lives, along with our hopes and dreams, and letting God take control, is scary. To do so, requires trust. Though, we must first remember that our lives do belong to Him.
Our children, our finances, and everything in between, come from God. So, if we struggle with the concept of God having control, we must ask ourselves why we are so stubborn, and do we fully trust God with everything that we hold dear? In this self-reflection, we might also ask if we fully trust God with our difficult circumstances, no matter what the outcomes may be?
I share this with a lens that I would have rather not looked through, but have nonetheless become grateful for. My family is quite familiar with circumstances we would not have chosen. Though, despite the struggles we’ve come up against, and the fears that we’ve faced, we’ve received blessings far greater than what our prayers have asked for. However, that doesn’t mean that God has always answered our prayers in the ways that we had hoped.
These blessings that we have received, have been found in the surrender; that is, the complete surrender to God. I’ve come to learn time and time again, that no matter what the situation is that we’re facing, God will show up in real, and often tangible ways, if we surrender it to Him. When we instead try to wade through problems by ourselves, we inevitably come to find out that we can’t do it on our own.
Letting go
Likewise, the temptation to hold on just a little, while “letting go”, is a real struggle. Perhaps we think we can control the outcomes, or maybe we believe that we know best. Just as a child may stubbornly demand to do something on their own, we may stubbornly try to lead as well. Despite that child being advised to receive help, in the right situation, a wise parent will step back in order for their child to learn a lesson.
Lovingly, that parent will not berate or scold their child after they’ve come to learn that they should have trusted their parent’s advice. They will instead let the lesson learned do the teaching, while extending grace to their child. With each lesson learned, the child begins to more easily trade in their strong willed defiance, for surrender to the will of the parent. I believe God parents us in a similar way.
What does it mean to surrender?
On the battlefield, surrendering means to lose the fight. So, one who has never surrendered to God, may think that doing so would mean to be defeated or to give up. However, in our relationships with God, it’s quite the opposite. Surrendering to God is to run into our Father’s arms. While being embraced in His love, we tell Him that we fully trust Him with the hard thing, no matter what the outcome may be.
When we shift self reliance to full reliance on God, He will provide for us better than we could have provided for ourselves. He will care for us in ways that only He could, because we are His children. Our Heavenly Father sees and knows, even that which we’ve never spoken into words. The Holy Spirit hears our heart cries, as Jesus sits in the depths of the valley with us.
The more unexpected circumstances that we face, the more we come to learn that nothing in life is truly predictable. So much about life is unexpected, and we shouldn’t expect it to be easy. In fact, Jesus told us it wouldn’t be.
In John 16:33 we see Him say, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
When my family comes up against a hard situation, I take comfort in these words, along with Jesus’s sermon about worry. You can read it in Matthew 6:25-34. When He says that worrying won’t add a single hour to our lives, I’m convicted to replace anxiety with surrender, realizing again, that they cannot co-exist. He goes on to teach that God knows exactly what we need.
Therefore, if God knows what we need, then we can surrender all of our needs to Him! This is good news!
Surrendering
In choosing to fully surrender difficult circumstances to God, I’ve received the greatest blessing. It’s not always the answer that I prayed for, or the timing that I had desired. Rather, this blessing has been the opportunity to fully rely on God. Within that blessing is an abundance of peace.
In His loving mercy, He has given me eyes to see that difficult circumstances, though sometimes painful to bare, are not mine to carry alone. Your difficult circumstance is not yours to carry alone either. He wants us to surrender it to Him.
In doing so, He will transform our hearts. That’s what He’s done for mine. Now, instead of being anxious about tomorrow, I surrender it, along with all of it’s problems, because He already knows. When we fully rely on God, the surrendering of the hard thing, is a blessed surrender.
“Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
You are NOT alone.
