One concept that God has been placing on my heart lately is the concept of surrendering it all to Him.
This is one thing that I've recently had to learn how to do.
It can be so easy to say that you are going to leave it all up to His control, but when it comes time to actually do it, it can be hard to give up that control completely.
I know for me, giving up control on the things in my life that I worry about: grades, success, relationships, my future, is a daily battle.
I have to pick up my cross daily and surrender my burdens to Him, and sometimes, it's even several times a day.
Why is it hard for us to let go?
The fact of the matter is that it's in our nature that we like to be in control of our own lives. We have these thought out plans and expectations of how we think our lives ought to go, so we feel like if we handle it in our own strength that we can achieve them.
What this does though, is we get so involved and wrapped up in our own plans that we forget that ultimately God's plans are greater. We lose that trust in Him and end up becoming dependent upon our own strength.
But when it comes down to it, we can't rely on our own strength.
It's not enough.
What does it look like to completely surrender to Him?
Simply put, completely surrendering to God means to fully trust in Him.
In Ecclesiastes 3, it says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." "There is an appointed time for everything." "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance..."
Even when we are going through seasons in our lives when we have no idea what our next step is.
You didn't get the job that you had planned on getting, you were rejected from the only school that you applied to, the relationship you thought was going to last forever ended, when our world seems like it is falling apart, whatever life blindsides you with, we need to remain faithful and trust in God.
Some of my favorite song lyrics are from Lauren Daigle in her song "Trust in You." They say:
"When You don't move the mountains I'm needing You to move,
When You don't part the waters I wish I could walk through,
When You don't give the answers as I cry out to You,
I will trust, I will trust in You."
Those lyrics hold such truth and encouragement and they're so good for us to live by!
He knows our purpose in life and what's best for us.
Even if you are going through something extremely difficult and things seem hopeless, God is still with you and is working in your life.
You can trust Him to complete what He started in your life and know that He is never going to steer you wrong or forsake you.
He makes everything beautiful in His time.
If you think about it, even though it's difficult, completely surrendering all of your worries and plans to Him can bring such relief!
You no longer have to carry the burden of "what if" and worry about the future because you know that God is in control and has already taken care of all of that for you.
All you have to do it give the reigns of control over to Him, and walk with Him daily.
Do everything that you do for His glory, even if that's waiting on His timing.
So I encourage you, next time you start to feel overwhelmed by the worries in your life...
Let go and let God work.
