“Surrendering your will to God lies at the very core of whatever grieves you today.” – Wayne Stiles
I copied this quote a while back. I’ve come back to it from time to time- not quite ready to move on. It’s haunting me, dogging me, taunting me, pushing me, stretching me, teaching me.
What?
How does that work?
Am I galvanized in the grief of a lost relationship? Holding on? To what? What once was, but is not now? Or to what I thought once was?
But what never actually was?
Or was it simply for a season and I’m reluctant to let go?
How does that connect to the surrender of my will, which, by the way, I’ve done over and over again.
Why, you ask?
Isn’t it a once and done?
Shouldn’t it be?
Ahh… evidently not for me.
Because I keep grabbing it back in selfish ignorance and then in those moments of lucid vision (light bulb moment) I gingerly give it back to God like it’s a live wire I want nothing to do with anymore.
Haven’t I learned? Shouldn’t I have learned by now? Shouldn’t we all have learned?
The reality is that learning to surrender completely (meaning it’s finished when you’ve surrendered), is a process. We give up, give in. Easily. Readily. Then we reach out with our grubby hands and hold on for all we are worth. Because we keep forgetting that surrender is freedom and life.
In Christ.
Alone.
How do you get on with surrender? Is it important to you? Difficult or easy?
Take a look at the exchange between Jeremiah and King Zedekiah and the fulfillment of prophecy from the Lord in Jeremiah 37-39:6.
I SURRENDER ALL.