3 Things That Happen When We Surrender

Surrender. Let go and let God. Often we are given that advice when our desire is not coming to fruition in a timely manner. The white flag of surrender more often feels like a declaration of weakness. A release of control stands in stark contrast to white-knuckled holds to hopes and dreams.

God put it on my heart to write about surrender after an almost three-month hiatus from blogging. I said, “really God? Couldn’t we warm back up with an inspired post about the importance of reading the Bible or prayer?” If I’m honest with myself, surrender is something I’ve always struggled with. Ever time I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of surrendering my plans to God, He throws me a curveball to my well-thought-out plans; I’m left on my knees asking for more help. This is the place that God wants you and I. It is in this place of relinquishing control that we learn more about God. So here I am, ready to share what I’ve learned and am learning about surrender.

Surrender invites the power of God’s name in our lives.

Often, we associate surrender with defeat. We think that if we surrender our desire to God, we are giving up on our dreams. A declaration of surrender, we say, is a death to our desire. However, a loss of control is an invitation for God to bear our burden and do what only He can do. Psalm 9:10 says, “And those who know your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” An act of surrender is an acknowledgment of the name of God as love, mediator, and almighty. It is a step of obedience, based on trust. Surrender of our desire could mean that God takes the desire away for a time. In regards to my own singleness, God has shown love by lessening my desire for a husband so I can experience abundance in this season. On the other hand, surrender of a desire could mean that God's strengthens the desire in His time and equips us for it. Our God of love, power, might is already fighting for us and is wanting us to experience it. 

Surrender allows us to act on trust, rather than fear.

The act of laying down our burdens at the cross leaves us feeling relieved. Yet later, that old familiar voice of fear returns to our heads. The voice of fear may return, but the action of picking up the burden again doesn’t have to. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths” (ESV). We can’t trust both God and ourselves. We may have this idea that “Jesus is my co-pilot”, made popular by bumper stickers. Jesus can’t be our co-pilot or we will crash. Jesus should be the pilot. We are not even in the captain’s quarters with Him because He is sovereign. We either trust God and let Him lead our ways or we rely on ourselves.

Surrender removes the distraction from our relationship with God.

Like a little kid who wants a cookie before dinner, we often want things we shouldn’t have. We beg and plead our Father to give us the cookie of our desire. He refuses because He has something better in store for us. We moan and whine because we are hungry. We miss that He may want to give it to us at a different time (after supper); we could also miss the chocolate cake He has in store for us. Our relationship with our Father is often stifled, due to the passion of our distracted cry. Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” The pride of our hearts tells us that we know better than our Creator. We cannot be molded into the person God wants us to be if we are too busy telling the potter how to shape us. As we give our desires to Him, we begin to develop trust in His character.

Surrender is not the end and death of a dream, but the beginning of a deeper relationship with our Father. This relationship will lead to greater joy, hope, and direction. What may feel like a declaration of weakness is a call for God to be strength and joy in your life. Even if our desire is not brought to completion, we can trust that our God is molding us into the people of God He desires us be.

Unqualified For This

I sat and stared at a blank Word document. I thought to myself, “what if I am not qualified to share my words with the world?” “What if there is someone else out there who is more skilled in writing?” I wondered. Doubts began to creep into my head as I watched the blinking cursor, the ever-present reminder that time was ticking away. I had a few choices: abandon my calling out of fear, muster up my own strength, or submit my feelings of inadequacy to God. Maybe you’ve been in a similar boat. In relationships, work, ministry, daily life, we may not feel qualified for the calling God has put on our life.

Here are three reasons you can step out even when you don’t feel qualified:

1.     Your calling is not based on your confidence in the assignment.

In our lives, it is normal to do and try things that you think you will be good at. No one signs up to try something new if they think they will fail. When you know your strengths and weaknesses, you are likely to align your life with things that utilize your strengths. It is human nature to fear the unknown and uncharted territories in our lives. When I first started wrestling with the desire to lead a lifegroup, I did not step fully into the assignment because I thought I would fail. I remember telling the lifegroup minister I would take a season to see what lifegroup was like before committing to lead one. He looked me in the eyes and said, “Yes, by your own strength, you will fail. If you keep your eyes all-sufficient power of God, He will equip you for the calling He has on your life.” Using the passage in Matthew 14: 22-33, he showed me how Peter was able to walk on the water with Jesus until the moment he started to doubt God’s presence:

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out,

“Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him.

“You of little faith,” He said,

“Why did you doubt?”

The moment Peter looked at the strength of the wind and away from the strength of Jesus, he began to sink. Minister Henry T. Blackaby said, “The reality is that the Lord never calls the qualified; He qualifies the called.” As we relinquish the need to be confident in our calling, we release control to the God who qualifies the called.

2.     God will humble us deeply in order to use us greatly.

In our life, we are either walking in pride or in humility. When we walk in humility and have a proper view of ourselves in relation to God, we experience peace. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Almost the very moment we think we’ve got it all figured out, God will humble us to show us that we need Him. Consider the pattern of King Nebuchadnezzar: feel pride, experience consequence, repent to God, repeat. In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar is having a dream about a tree, which was a prophecy of upcoming pride, consequence, and repentance. Despite Daniel’s interpretation of the dream, Nebuchadnezzar did not repent of his pride. How often do we have to be brought to a place of humility and repentance, despite warning from the Word and fellow believers? How thankful we should be for God’s continual patience and the pursuit of us, in spite of our pride!

3.     Your calling shows how great God is.

God is in the business of not doing things the way the world expects Him to. Rather than looking for the strongest, most eloquent, wise beings to spread His message, He chooses to use the weak and feeble first. This is not to say that God does not use the educated or charismatic people to spread His message. However, I think that wherever God can choose a weak person to glorify His name, He is found to be strong. God does not follow the ways of the world. In fact, 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 ESV says,

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise;

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

God chose what is low and despised in the world,

Even things that are not,

To bring to nothing things that are,

So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

I’m finding God uses those uncomfortable areas (we might even call them weaknesses) to call us out of reliance on ourselves. If we were already qualified, we would get the glory; if in Him we are qualified, the Lord gets the glory.

Whether you are currently at a place of feeling unqualified or have ever felt this way, don’t lose hope. The God who calls us to something that seems impossible will equip us to follow His calling. As we become humble before the Lord, He will be the strength that we need. We need only to keep our eyes upon God, the One who empowers those He calls.

Lessons Learned from Chronic Illness

May of 2008, my world changed. On what I thought would be a relatively routine doctor visit, I got a diagnosis that altered my life. “Your blood sugar is over 400. We think you have diabetes,” the urgent care doctor said. In that moment, new fears and questions entered my head. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Will I never be able to eat what I want again?

Maybe you’ve experienced a similar scenario in your own life or your loved ones life. The diagnosis of a chronic illness can feel debilitating. It’s hard to fight a daily battle with an illness that can never go away. As this month is Diabetes Awareness Month and I am coming up on my ten-year diaversary (anniversary of diabetes diagnosis), I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned along the way.

1.     Find a support group.

A life with chronic illness can be very lonely. Not many people “get it”. There are so many support groups for various chronic illnesses on Facebook. I recently joined one for Type 1 Diabetics. The amount of support that people are willing to give complete strangers is incredible. I have learned so much about my illness, just by reading about the experiences of others. Questions and answers flood the walls of Facebook support groups. While caution needs to be taken before accepting medical advice from people who are not medical professionals, there is a wealth of knowledge on these pages.  

2.     Get comfortable with presenting your emotions to God.

I used to be so reserved when it came to talking to God about the way I felt. I was concerned that maybe He wouldn’t love me as much if I had “real talk” with Him. Perhaps I didn’t trust that He could handle my real, raw emotions. With chronic illness comes a surplus of ever-changing emotions. God is never surprised by the way we feel. In fact, He already knows it before we ever voice our heart to Him. God desires us to speak to Him in all moments. I love the way Paul reminds the church “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6 ESV). I think that by acknowledging our feelings to God, we are reminding ourselves that He is working things out.

3.     Let others help you.

It is difficult to admit when I need help. I would rather struggle through my illness alone than speak up. The problem with chronic illness is there always comes a day when you come to the end of yourself. I think more people want to help and take a concern, but often we do not let them in. In my own heart, my refusal to ask for help boils down to pride. When I don’t allow others in to help carry my struggle, I am revealing a lack of humility. Humility says, “I know you don’t have to, but thank you for the help”.  Pride says, “I don’t need you. I can do this on my own.” This attitude of pride can spill over into my faith life; I may not come to the Lord with my medical concerns because “I’ve got this”. There is a verse in the Psalms that says, “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (Psalm 10:4 NIV). May we never get so wrapped up in self-sufficiency that we lose the ability to ask for help from loved ones or God.

4.     Acknowledge the goodness of God.

When I wake up in the middle of the night because of a low blood sugar, it is contrary to first acknowledge the goodness of God. How could lost sleep be a good thing? How could my lack of blood sugar control be a blessing? I have started to change my thinking. When I have a diabetic-related issue, especially during the night, I’ve started using the extra time awake to talk to God. This time awake gives me extra time to bring thankfulness and words of praise over to God. One way to thank God for His goodness is through this Psalm, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6 ESV). Even through the rough patches of my illness, I can thank God because He is good. This mindset shift has lead to me remembering God’s goodness, whether my illness is out of control or steady.   

My chronic illness has revealed a lot of areas of strength and improvement in my life. I have learned much from my 9-ish years with diabetes. I hope the lessons I’ve learned are encouraging to you. I pray that as you battle daily your chronic illness, you will seek strength from El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty. While chronic illness is not something that I would have asked God for, I truly believe He can use my chronic illness to grow me. My chronic illness does not have to define me. My God is teaching me how to live my life with chronic illness for His glory.