When God Says, What If? How Your Purpose Will Impact The World

Chapter 7 - Time to surrender

This was a hard one for me. I am stubborn by nature and strong willed, and that is probably putting it mildly. I am sure if asked, my husband would have something to say about this, so let's not ask! In all seriousness though, I am being serious, and I have always been extremely strong willed. So ok – it is His will and not mine. Huh? How the heck do I go from these words into actually doing it, I would ask God what seemed like endlessly.

I really wanted to surrender to His will for my life, because as I told you at the beginning, I realized that my way wasn't going so well. But saying it and doing it, are two very different things. For me it wasn't easy, it wasn't quick and it was at times more than just a little painful. It was almost like relearning how to consider challenges, make decisions and really an entirely different and new way to live my life. But here is the great news – it is better too! Actually, it is so much better than it seems almost difficult to contrast the before and after.

But did I mention that I am strong willed? Oh yeah, I did. So let me tell those of you who may be a little bit like me that it didn't happen quickly or easily. It was definitely a gradual process. It wasn't that I didn't want to, it was that I really didn't understand how. It would be nice if we could somehow just flip a switch inside of us. You know the one marked His will push up, our will push down. But as much as I looked, it wasn't there.

Understanding God's will takes time and practice and more than anything it takes reigning in our flesh. You know the flesh that loves to be right, loves to be in control and loves more than anything to have its own way. UGH! Now you see why this part isn't easy. But let me assure you that finding this peace and living in it is worth all the effort that it takes to get there. When you start to see and feel that peace in your life, you will clearly understand that living without it is no longer an option.

Surrendering to God's will for our life is part of accepting what we were born to do. In order for us to be all we are meant to be, we need to be guided by God along the way. Again this isn't a one-stop place we are trying to get to, we are trying to get on and stay on our intended path. It is the way we want to live the rest of our lives, knowing we are on purpose, knowing we are helping those we are meant to help and knowing we are being an example for those who are seeking their path too.

When people hear the word surrender they often think of weakness, or they visualize a movie where army soldiers are surrounded by the enemy and they walk out hands held high in the air saying, "don't shoot, we surrender." But this is a different type of surrender. Yes it is a signal to the one who brought us to life that we finally realize that we can't do this without Him, and it is at the same time a realization that our flesh is incomplete and no amount of struggling or barreling on our own will get us to the place we have been seeking our entire lives.

Some people don't like the idea of surrendering to God because they feel like it will mean they no longer will have a say in their lives. But surrendering to God is not like that at all. Every second of every day we have a choice to live our way or His. It is really that simple. Surrendering is a beautiful sign that we understand this journey enough to get out of our own way, and most importantly that His way is AMAZING. His way is where love, happiness, peace, and joy come to life. His way is the way it was always supposed to be.

But if you still aren't convinced, then let's look at how often we turn our own will off and submit to others every day. Think about our education system. From the time we are very little, we attend classes each day, year after year, towards the goal of gaining an education. At times it isn't what we want to be doing but we put our wants second because we know we are working towards something, that we understand the value of our being there. We also are respectful of our teachers and the people who are leading us in our efforts. This is a normal part of our culture that we probably don't give much thought to.