I’m writing this blog to tell you about a great lesson that I wish I could say I have learned, but I can only saying that I am still learning it. This is a lesson the Lord began to reveal to me in Nepal and has continually grown my knowledge of throughout the past 11 months. As I celebrate and mourn this season, the Lord keeps reminding me of all He has done and all He has yet to do. One of our leaders recently spoke to us and told us something so simple, yet so profound. She said, “The World Race will not be the peak of your life. The end of this season is literally just the beginning of what God is going to do with your lives.” I don’t know why this struck me so deeply, but it did. I realized sitting there that I am only 22 and the Lord has so much left He wants to do in and through me. Yes, this year was amazing and I might never have another one like it, but it will get better. There will be bigger and better things. So you might be asking what this has to do with that lesson God is teaching me. Well, as I pondered these mind blowing statements, I began to wonder how it was all going to unfold. In that moment the Lord gently whispered, “Surrender.” He told me that whatever He does in my life will come to pass if I SURRENDER to Him and to His will.
The way in which the Lord has been teaching me the lesson of surrender is by having me teach others. I wrote a sermon in Rwanda and have had the opportunity to preach it four times on the Race. Every time I have preached it, I have come to a new understanding of what it truly means to surrender.
What does it mean to surrender?
Surrender is willingly placing oneself under the authority of another. Surrender means humility and obedience, rather than rebellion. Surrender to God means that the believer has submitted to God’s will and embraced the Lord’s rule in his or her life. The important thing to understand is that this is a {willing} surrender. The heart posture of surrender is a {choice}.
We can see this in the beginning of creation. When God created Adam and Eve and put them in the garden of Eden, He gave them free will, the ability to choose. He then said that they had access to everything in the garden but one tree. God instructed them to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We all know that Satan (the serpent) then entered the garden and tempted Eve. Satan told Eve that the reason God restricted the fruit from that tree was because if she ate it, it would make her LIKE God. This was a lie though.
Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
This clearly states that Adam and Eve were already LIKE God- they were made in His image.
But Eve fell to the temptation and ate the fruit. When God entered the garden searching for Adam and Eve after the fall in Genesis 3, He said, “Where are you?”
Notice that He didn’t say, “ What have you done?” or “How could you have disobeyed me?” He simply says, “Where are you?”
Do you know why this is??
Because God wants NEARNESS. God honors our choices, even when we don’t choose Him. This is because He loves us! Our willingness to choose comes out of trust. When Eve ate the fruit, she failed to trust God and His word when He said that she was made in His image and therefore was LIKE Him. The crazy thing about this too is that God created all of the world and called it good, then He created us and said we were VERY GOOD. So Eve’s failure to choose God came out of a lack of trust.
Our trust is built on intimacy. In Psalm 37:3 it says if we “trust & dwell” God will sustain us. In verse 5 it says that if we commit or SURRENDER and trust, God will act. And in verse 39 it says if we “take refuge” or trust or SURRENDER to God, He will save us.
This is hard for me. I love to be in control, to make my own decisions, and to attempt to know every outcome. Therefore, surrender or giving up my control and willingly placing myself under the authority of God is hard.
I can tell you that I had a great, but challenging childhood. When I was seven my parents got divorced. They both got remarried very quickly. I wouldn’t necessarily say that we went to church every Sunday, but my Mom always raised me to know that God was #1 and should always come first in my life.
When I got older I began to grow a relationship with the Lord and see how amazing and good Jesus was. As my relationship with Jesus grew, I noticed that I began to attempt to be Jesus for those around me. If someone was in pain, I attempted to relieve that pain. If someone was sad, I attempted to comfort them. I began to attempt to “fix” those around me as if I were Jesus. I think that because I began to do this that a very unrealistic perception of perfection was associated with me. I felt the expectations of perfection were unintentionally placed on me by those I loved most. It wasn’t that they held me to this standard, but rather it was that I unknowingly set this standard because I was attempting to be Jesus. They saw His love and leaned on me to see more. I never truly realized how hard this had become until I could no longer hold them up.
I came on The World Race and left all of those that I love at home. Yes, it was hard. Probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life thus far. But looking back on the last eleven months, it was the best choice. Because with the choice to leave came the choice of SURRENDER. I was no longer there to hold up the people I loved. I tried to hold them up from a distance in months 1 and 2. I tried to be there via FaceTime and phone calls, but it was impossible. In Nepal, the Lord showed me that it wasn’t my job.
He gently whispered, “Let me have them. Let me hold them up. Let them depend on me and not you. Let me fight for them. Let me wipe away their tears. Let me be me.”
And I said, “Okay.”
I can tell you now, that when I said, “okay”, the Lord moved. I began to pray for those I loved most instead of calling them and trying to fix all of our problems. I began to tell God my every worry and stress; I let Him be my defender and fight all of my battles. As the Lord worked and moved I began to see His faithfulness. People I had been praying for had breakthroughs with their relationships with the Lord. People that didn’t believe in God began to have their questions answered and feel His love around them.
Surrender isn’t easy. There were times that I wanted to step in and take things into my own hands. When friendships went through rocky times, I wanted to quit because it was too painful. When people walked out of my life, I wanted to do everything I could to get them back in my own ability, but knew I would fail. My heart was breaking for those around me and I didn’t understand it. A deep sorrow began to settle around me. But out of that sorrow came great joy when I chose to lean into Jesus. When I surrendered my pain and heart ache to Jesus, He looked at me and said, “I understand; I get it; I know what it feels like to be rejected and hurt and to give up those that you love the most.” The Lord took my pain and carried it for me.
In this season of learning what it means to surrender the Lord has also given me the word ABIDE.
John 15:7
If you remain or abide in me and my words in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.
Before you can remain or abide in Jesus, you have to surrender to Him.
God’s faithfulness to answer our prayers is not dependent upon His willingness to give but rather our willingness to receive.
I’ll say that again…
God’s faithfulness to answer our prayers is not dependent upon His willingness to give but rather our willingness to receive. We must choose to surrender to God. We must choose to let Him fight for us. The amazing thing about this choice is that it is just a simple yes.
Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.
Once you say yes and give God what you can’t handle, He takes it. You just have to be still and rest in Him.
I want to challenge each of you, what are you not surrendering to God??
Is there a situation that you are fighting that you aren’t meant to fight?
SURRENDER IT
Is it your marriage?
SURRENDER IT
Is it your children?
SURRENDER IT
Is it your finances?
SURRENDER IT
A great song, that I love says, “I lean not on my own understanding, my life is in the hands of the maker of heaven.”
What does it mean to lean not on your understanding? It means to lean on the understanding of God. Who is God?
God is…
GOOD
FAITHFUL
ABUNDANT
AVAILABLE
ALL-KNOWING
AND SO MUCH MORE
So I’ll leave you all with a quote from one of my favorite worship leaders.
“There is a way to grieve and be in joy; there is a way to dance as the tears flow.” – Steffany Gretzinger
The way we dance through the tears is by dancing in the never-ending rain of His presence, surrendered and free.
Thank you for reading!!!
Love,
Gabbie 🙂
