Surrendering is not so easy with your hands full or when life is hard. Your hands get all tangled and tied up and you can’t free them in order to lift them or you are terrified to let go because what would happen then..  Instead, you stand hands full, heart heavy, and unable to let go or surrender anything. This is where I stand right now, and I know I am not alone. 

I know I must surrender because there are things that I can’t control, and these things are much too heavy for me to carry. Yet I feel completely unable to do the thing I know my soul needs the most. Have you ever felt like that?  Knowing you should surrender but unable to release the burden to God.

Surrender, it is the truest test of faith. Can you let go of the unmet need, the out of my control situation you are facing and believe that God will work all things out for your ultimately good? It is difficult to believe that God will take care of you no matter the trial, the test, or the storm you are facing. It feels like it would be crazy to sleep like Jesus, in the boat during the storm, securely resting because he knew that he was in his Father’s hands. Yet that is what we have been called to do as believers.  To have faith and trust in every situation, even those when surrender feels impossible, and peace seems like a dream. 

I pray God will give us the strength to believe, even when we cannot in our own strength and abilities. We can do this as believers because we know that God alone is God and that he loves us. I know that God alone can give us the faith that we need to surrender. He can give us the strength to say “All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all. All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender.” It doesn’t just have to be a good old hymn.  It can be our anthem, our declaration or freedom and praise.  We will not be bound by our doubts and fears, we can surrender, rest in his peace and our faith for a God we know never fails.  We can sleep in the boat no matter how crazy the storm.  

I challenge you today, surrender and find true peace and freedom in Christ.