This is my journey of surrender.
Throughout my years as an adolescent, as a teenager and even as a young adult, surrender has been the most challenging aspect of my faith. In the past, I had the tendency to surrender portions of my life to the Lord while keeping other aspects locked away. Ultimately, I wanted to be the one to rule and reign over my life. This left me broken and empty.
The weight of the importance that surrender would play in my life did not hit me until the Lord broke me of myself. He revealed that living a life for myself only resulted in emptiness and left me with a longing for something greater. Someone greater.
John 3:30 says, “He must become greater; I must become less.”
As a Christian, I am called to give up the desire to live for myself and give my all to the Lord.
From learning to surrender my struggle with depression, anxiety and stress, my desire for perfection, as well as surrendering my insecurities, surrender has played a vital part in my relationship with the Lord in every season of my life.
In surrendering these things, I am allowing Christ to shape me into the person that He has called me to be.
In this upcoming season in my life, the Lord has given me the desire to surrender 11 months of my life to travel to 11 countries for the sake of His name. In August of 2016, I will depart on The World Race, a journey to serve those in need while spreading the gospel.
In order to walk in obedience to this calling on my life, I need to surrender my past, my present and my future to the Lord so that His name will be glorified.
SURRENDER MY PAST
My past is dead and gone. I refuse to let the burden and weight of my sin hinder me from following the Lord’s will for my life. If the creator of the universe can forgive me of my shortcomings, then who is to say I cannot forgive myself?
SURRENDER MY PRESENT
I must die to myself each and every day. That means swallowing my pride and making myself less. Jesus did just that when He took on the ultimate form of surrender with His death on the cross. I will not let my life reflect anything less.
SURRENDER MY FUTURE
I do not know what my future holds, but I trust in the Lord’s provision. Right now, what I do know is that I am called to go on the World Race in August and feel lead to surrender 11 months to travel to 11 different countries. I am incredibly thankful that Jesus does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called. It is only through Him that I am able to feel confident to follow His calling and will for my life.
I choose to live my life for Someone greater. The truth is that I will fail, but that is not the end of my story. Because the living God lives in me, I am victorious over these shortcomings and hardships. Satan cannot have victory unless I hand it to him.
1 Corinthians 2:9–10 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Failing is sometimes difficult to handle. However, every difficulty is an opportunity to show the world how great our God is.
“One does not surrender a life in an instant. That which is lifelong can only be surrendered in a lifetime.” —Elisabeth Elliot
My heart’s desire is to pursue a life of complete surrender to the Lord and His plan for my life; a surrender of all I am for all that The Lord has for me. My story of surrender has not always been easy, but God has been ever faithful. Up until this point, my journey has prepared me to do what I am ultimately called to do as a believer—to spread the gospel to the nations.
Surrender is not about me. It never was about me, and it’s never going to be about me. Whether your surrender happens to be on the other side of the world like mine or in your own backyard, the goal is the same: to spread the gospel to the nations. I am choosing to give up my own plans for my life to accomplish His. It is evident that the Lord is calling me on The World Race, for a duration of 11 months to 11 countries on my next chapter in my journey of surrender. With His help, I could not be more ready.
