It sounds backward, doesn’t it? Surrendering to win? In most areas of life, surrender means defeat. But when we surrender to God, we win!
When we finally stop trying to control everything—our jobs, our relationships, our pain—and put it into God’s hands, that’s when we can find peace, strength, and wisdom like we may have never found before.
As the Bible says:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
I recently talked to my friend, Kirk Billiter, about surrender. I met Kirk and his wife Rebecca while we were each leading various “care groups” at our church. We had the opportunity to walk with many people who were hurting, whether from divorce, addiction, cancer, or veterans’ issues.
But just because we were helping others didn’t mean we weren’t hurting ourselves. As Kirk said,
“In that setting, we found so many people who came forward and talked to us personally, ministering to us while we were trying to minister to them. That was such a help at the time, because we were having our own struggles.
“My wife and I were both suffering—she had just lost her parents in 2017 and 2018, and then in 2020 I lost mine. Then there was the loss of a job, starting another job, and losing that within eight months. It all compounded. But during that time, I found purpose again. Much of that time was spent writing—doing a lot of personal writing—as well as creating through my art.”
From his experiences, Kirk says:
“You can’t go around something like grief or divorce or suffering—you have to go through it. And in order to go through it, you have to feel the pain. We do anything we can to avoid that pain, but the whole idea of surrendering is one that I continue to come back to.
Surrender, in a worldly sense, is the worst thing you can do. You don’t surrender to anything. Surrendering would be losing. But in this case, you’re surrendering to God’s call on your life, allowing Him to heal you from whatever you’re dealing with. To do that, you have to surrender your heart and soul to that calling and to God’s plan for your life.”
Maybe you’ve found yourself struggling to hold things together? Maybe today’s the day to loosen your grip, to let God take over?
Letting go doesn’t mean losing. Letting go means you might finally find what you were looking for all along. As Jesus said,
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:25).
I hope you’ll watch our whole conversation about surrendering to God in practical ways. I believe it will give hope to keep pressing on… even when you may feel like giving up.
Here’s the link to watch:
I’d love to pray with you.
Lord, thank You for giving us the ultimate example of what it means to raise the white flag of surrender, not to give up, but to give in to our Father’s plan for our lives. Lord, help us to surrender today, to give up control so that You can take the reins of our lives. Guide us, direct us, fill us with Your wisdom. We’re coming to You, running to You, and kneeling before You… putting our whole faith and trust in You. Please walk us through this next season of our lives in a way that thoroughly honors and glorifies and magnifies You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a great week!
Love,
Eric Elder writes for page, stage & screen to glorify God’s name so Christ may be seen! Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe.
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