January 21, 2022

                               Surrender

 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. – Jeremiah 17:7

 

Worries abound. Health issues. Financial issues. Relationship issues. It’s like there is always something that threatens to steal our peace and drive us to the brink of anxiety.

 

We live in an uncertain world. Just when we think Covid is about to end, another variant emerges and here we go again. Have you lost someone you cared about to Covid? I have. Many times over. Age doesn’t seem to matter. Covid doesn’t just hit the old and ill. It takes the young and healthy.

 

Prices on everything are skyrocketing. Food and gasoline and everything else are much higher now. But paychecks haven’t increased to cover those extra costs. Jobs are everywhere. Despite ugly comments about people too lazy to work and government handouts, unemployment is low. There simply aren’t enough people to fill vacancies, especially when those vacancies are for low pay.

 

Relationships are stressed by all the demands of this new life we didn’t want. Kids are in school one day and virtual the next. Parents are juggling jobs and schoolwork and childcare. Older folks are isolated from their peers and, in some cases, their families. We are all struggling in what appears to be an unending path to destruction.

 

How do we survive? God. We’re trying to manage things we were never meant to manage. We’re trying to control things we can’t control. We are allowing life to bring us to the breaking point without realizing God is the only One who is steadfast and true. He is the only anchor in this thing we call life.

 

What would happen if you simply surrendered it all to God? What would it feel like to hand it all over to the One who loves you most, the One who knows the answers, the One who can protect you from all harm?

 

We don’t have to do life on our own. We really don’t have to know all the answers. We can simply trust God and KNOW that He is in control and that we can find rest in the shelter of His arms

August 4, 2018

Surrender Plans to God

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

– Jeremiah 29:11-13

Sometimes it seems that the harder I try to get control of my life, the more my life is out of control. Anybody know what I’m talking about?

It’s all those little things that pop up, taking my plans and causing them to zig and zag until there’s no time left for what was on my to-do list. I try to laugh it off. Some days I even succeed. But there are those days when frustration gains a root hold that won’t seem to let go.

It helps to know that while I’m not in control, God surely is in control. Nothing surprises Him. God knew the cows would destroy the gate and take a section of fence down. He knew the dog would get sprayed by a skunk – again. God understood that I would need to prepare food, attend a funeral, visit a friend who just had surgery. He even knew I would have furniture orders to get done in this high-humidity week.

I gave up trying to predict the future several years ago. What was the point? I could never have predicted some of the things that have happened. It’s a good thing. I think God sometimes keeps us in the dark because He knows we’d never keep going if we knew what awaited us.

And, yet, when we surrender whatever it is to His will, God always uses it for our good and His glory. That’s the kind of loving Father God happens to be.

That’s the thing about trials. When there’s no place else to turn, we turn to God. When we’ve done all we can, we turn to God. When everything we once believed is crashing down around us, we turn to God. It’s in the valleys that we truly learn who He is.

Oh, but we want the mountaintop, don’t we? Sure, we do. But that’s not where we live. That’s not the real world. And while we enjoy those experiences immensely, life is messy and prone to disruptions. We think we’re headed in one direction and, almost without notice, we’ve changed course.

What happened? Life. Our plans are thrown out and we’re struggling to stay afloat and there is God. When everyone else seeks higher ground, there is God. When nothing seems to work, there is God.

A sweet friend said today that she’d finally found true happiness. But – and this is a big but – it didn’t happen until she’d surrendered it all to God. I’m not talking about salvation. She’s been a Christian for a long, long time. It’s about trying to live life, make choices, find happiness, without handing all your plans over to God first and trusting Him with all of it. Once she did that, everything fell into place.

The truth is we can’t predict how our days are going to turn out. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We can plan, and make lists, and stubbornly hang onto our goals, but it’s God that determines our steps. And they are good steps. Don’t miss that. God wants good things for us.

I’m learning how to roll with things life throws my way. I’m getting better at trusting that God knows how it’s all going to play out and that He’ll work it out however is best for me and for Him. He’s got good plans for me and you. So seek His will and walk each step by faith, trusting that He’s got you no matter what the day might bring.