Hello hello! So glad it is Friday! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week š This week we read three short, but powerful, chapters that I can’t wait to discuss with you! Here are this week’s questions:
Part Three: How Do I Surrender?
If you get a chance, listen to the song below. It is the one Laura mentions in chapter 9.
Surrender by Letting Go
*“Surrender is an ongoing process. None of us surrenders just once – or ever quite surrenders all…It’s a commitment to a lifestyle” (pg. 105). Is this a new idea for you? Have you believed surrender was one hundred percent attainable? Does this idea that it is a “commitment to a lifestyle” freeing? How does it make you feel?
*Think of an ‘in-between’ time in your life. Perhaps you were waiting on a promise to come true or a prayer to be answered. Looking back, can you see that time differently now? Was it a fertile place where your faith was strengthened?
Surrender by Choosing to Believe
*Every act of surrender is a choice to believe God. Laura says that we do not have to summon belief on our own but that we are enabled by the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and by worship/liturgy. Which of these three do you lean on the most when you need to believe?
*“We’re called to believe God in the messy middle of our story, when sorrow and grief threaten to railroad belief. We are also called to believe God for the long view, for the ending we can’t yet see. When we surrender to his plan for our lives, we surrender to the entire scope of it, beginning to end, A to Z – not just the parts we like” (pg. 120). Do you tend to get stuck in the moment? How do you take the long view during difficult times?
Surrender by Acting “As If”
*“When circumstances and professed belief just don’t line up, we tend to question the belief, not the circumstances” (pg. 125). Have you ever been caught in a circumstance that didn’t line up with what you believed?
*The author gives three ways we can act “as if”:
- as if I am who he says I am, regardless of my circumstances
- as if His mercies are new every morning
- as if the end of all things is good and true, no matter how messy the meantime gets
Of the three, which one can you act on today?
Scripture of the Week
Romans 5:3-5
Luke 8:44-48
Psalm 37
Prayer for the Week
Father God, help us in our unbelief. Choosing to surrender to You is not something we will master this side of Heaven, but help us to live with our hands open to You. We don’t have to keep a grip on the things we’re trying to control. We can surrender them to You. Help us to choose to believe we are who You say we are and we can act as if Your Word is true, because it is. Thank You for being faithful and knowing the beginning and the end. Help us as we are in the messy middle, keep our eyes on You as we navigate this life. In Jesus’s Name, Amen
For Next Week
*Read Part 4: What Happens When I Surrender?
āā¦it is impossible to accept anything from God when youāre holding on tightly to something else, even if itās your own pride.ā (Page 100) This! Sooo good! š¤
The concept of surrendering as an ongoing process is somewhat new to me, in the sense that Iāve always felt bad for having to surrender – again – for something Iāve done times before. Knowing itās something we need (are allowed) to continually do makes me feel better, but more importantly helps me realize Iām not even really in control of my surrendering!
What I mean is: the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf and helps us do what we have a hard time doing or even cannot do. We arenāt capable to do some things on our ownā¦we may think we are or desperately want to be, but weāre just not. And thatās ok.
I donāt know if I believe surrender is 100% attainableā¦at least while weāre here on earth. I know I can do or not do something and it looks like Iām surrendering, when in fact I am just doing (or not doing) it because 1) I know itās the ārightā thing to do (but my heartās not in it) 2) I really have no choice in the matter, or 3) I prefer to give up, walk away, or settle.
āMy Jesus surrendered once for all, for all of us.ā (Page 104) Iām so glad He didnāt give up or change His mind.
Lately Iāve been getting stuck in the moment – I canāt seem to get a hold of, well, myself.
It became so clear to me though on page 109 when the author said: āā¦the great issue of faith is not whether we believe in God but whether we believe the God we believe in.ā
Itās easy to believe God when things are going how youād like them to go. But when life feels uncontrollable and nothing seems to be going right, itās easy to get stuck and wonder if God is around.
What Iām realizing though is that Iām getting stuck because I am choosing not to trust God and take Him at His word. Whether my kids act right, the laundry gets done, or my car avoids a flat tire doesnāt mean God is faithful. He is faithful always. I have to constantly live as if the end of all good things is good and true no matter the mess of my current circumstancesā¦because this life is messy! When itās not, I sometimes wonder if Iām in an episode of the Twilight Zone! š The mess is how God gets (and tries to keep) our attention. He doesnāt want life to be messy, but again, that is just how our world is. But when we turn to Him and keep trying to surrender ourselves to Him, we can start to see Him for who He is: good, perfect, and faithful.
Once I see who He really is, I can start to see myself how I should, understand my true identity in Him. Running away from oneās true identity in God is exhausting (paraphrased from Page 130) – and Iām tired.
You’re so right that even our surrender is not in our control because of the help we receive from the Holy Spirit! I think I still get caught up in what I can do rather than what God can do – for example did I say the right prayer, did I obey enough, etc. I forget that it’s all about what God is doing. I still struggle with God’s goodness and faithfulness when things are crazy or difficult…I know He doesn’t change but it’s so hard to believe He is the same God when things are really hard or when it seems that my prayers are hitting the ceiling.
The struggle is real, right?! š