Surrendering Your All

This is a post I wrote for Whole Magazine back in September of 2013. I wanted to share with my loves on my own site. Here's the link to the blog over at Whole Magazine. "Surrendering Your All" You can also click on the picture to the right, and it will take you to the Whole Magazine Site. Enjoy ladies. 


There is a song by Deitrick Haddon titled “Have Your Way” and just as the title suggests, the song invites the Lord to have his way concerning our entire being. The lyrics seem as though they are lifted right out of my soul; they explain that after all of the trying, rebellion, and sin that has widened the gap between us and our savior, we no longer desire that way of life. We simply want the Lord to have His way in us. We have arrived at the point where we have had enough and we surrender. These words are used to form a prayer I share with my Abba, but sadly have sparked no real change in any of my actions.

This last time the song came on, God made me think, “Do I really mean the words I sing, do I know what it means to surrender?” The words that flowed out of my mouth were real and I can honestly say each time I cried out to God, it was from the heart. However, once the worship was over and life began, my actions did not align with those surrendering words. We must ask ourselves do our actions align with our worship, or do we merely want God to transform us because we tell Him to, without giving our all to Him?

Merriam-Webster defines surrender as: To give up completely or agree to forgo especially in favor of another.

The Free Dictionary defines it as: To give up or give back (something that has been granted).

Both definitions suggest that in order to surrender we must give all of ourselves. The Free Dictionary also provides an excellent point that we are not giving up something that is ours, but essentially when we surrender to God, we are giving Him what is rightfully His. How would we feel if someone only gave us back only half of what was ours? We shouldn’t only give God the areas we want fixed or won’t affect us, if we make the decision to surrender we must know God deserves all of us.

Surrendering means trusting God, humbling ourselves, and being ready and willing to do whatever He asks us to do. We will make mistakes, and will not always get everything right, but our mindset should be that no matter what we will keep dying to our flesh and letting God use us.

We all want to let God use us and to be more like Him, and I know I gloss over what it really means and imagine the blessings that will come forth. However without sacrifice, obedience, and suffering we will fall short of becoming more like Him. The absence of those will actually prevent us from allowing God to have His way within us. Surrendering means choosing God over my emotions, and denying my flesh when I want to sleep instead of spending time with Him. It means being bold and audacious, and inviting Him into every area of my life. Let us not be afraid of giving ourselves completely to God, and losing our life for Him. Know that once we let go we will find ourselves in a better place.  

 Matthew 16: 24-26, “24Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any one would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be of a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’”

Thoughts: Hard Days

The below was written previously, but it is adhering to me presently. Hard days. Days like today where I poured out my heart to Christ in worship, and now Im empty. Empty to the point where I have no energy left to recharge, and I want to wallow in self-pity. With each passing minute I find it harder to get up…its comforting here. My body is use to this. Use to trudging along in an atmosphere of despondency until something in my environment kicks me out of it. Or until I reach the point where I can't take it any longer. But I am slowly learning that this war doesn't have to wage on as it does now. God has granted me the power to overcome & placed his Word at my grasp to nourish me. He whispers for me to move, to worship, to talk….its hard. Oh the strength that it takes to move forward out of what seems natural, but it is not mine, but his strength that is running through my veins. He meets me here…right here at my dining room table. He will meet you…Take a deep breathe, and blow out the strongholds that are weighing down your spirit. Fly closer ladies...

Hard days. Yesterday was one of those days. A day filled with a tug-of-war game that I didn’t have the strength to play.  Tonight is one of those nights. Nights where emotions are choking and rising up in my throat.  Days & nights where I am glad that God can meet me where I am. I don’t have to run miles, or say extensive prayers in order for God to be at my reach. Thankful that when I don’t have the words to communicate to others (or even myself), He knows.  He knows when I cant complete sentences, when I’m blubbering in my tears, and when my chest feels like its about to explode. He meets me in those moments. For that I am thankful for my God.  He met me today at church, and I know He will meet me again tonight. 

What if everyone?

"What if everyone". These were the three words that were printed across an envelope that was being handed to me as I stood in a Food Lion parking lot... "If you would like, here's a $20 gas gift card." Who has ever said those words to you without there being fine print? Or didn't come with regulations, meaning you had to sign up, get involved, or share your second cousin’s step mom's phone number? Not many people. But there was this guy and three kids standing in front of me with the sincerest smiles on their faces. Hesitant, I took the envelope and naturally asked more about the organization.  

 “What If Everyone (WIE) partners with local churches, businesses and organizations to serve the community. Our desire is to imagine “what if everyone” volunteered in their community in a practical way.  Our vision is to ignite a desire in people to use their skills and passion to serve those in need all around them.  WIE offers one-time as well as ongoing opportunities.”

http://www.whatifeveryone.com/#/home

As I mulled the newly found information in my head I couldn't help but be skeptical. Who would give a random stranger a $20 gas gift card? What made him approach me? Was there really a card in this envelope? Was there money on this gift card? Even though the questions swirled around in my head I couldn't help but thank God. 

As I thought about the blessing and this organization I was saddened that I was blinded by my skepticism. There is so much evil that is pressing in our world that we become “turned off” to the fact that there are people in this world that have pure hearts. There are people who seek to pour out their love, time, and energy to be a blessing to others.  When we do happen to come across organizations and people who seek to serve others we tend to say, There’s still a few good people in this world”, as if they were all washed off the face of the earth.

There are good people in this world; we must highlight them and replicate that goodness so that our light repels the darkness. Let us begin to outweigh the darkness that seeks to consume the world and us.  Mahatma Gandhi says, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.…We need not wait to see what others do.”

So let us “be the change that we want to see in the world”. Let us change the world through our actions. We can only get there if we all take that step, a step that will begin to change the attitude of this world.  We cannot simply keep talking about change and how this world is currently. We must be the change. Lets not push off the efforts on those who we think can handle the job, or think that the next generation will pick up the slack. Start today and stir up such a change and disturbance of good that people will be itching to be a part.

What if everyone took that step today…

Who are you making famous?

My devotional proposed a question, “In your life, what would it mean to be a ‘mere stagehand’ where the main character is Jesus?” God then immediately proposed a question to me, “Was HE the main character in my life?” As I sat and pondered the answer God dropped another thought into my spirit; a follow up to the aforementioned question… Was I doing everything to make Him famous, to put His name in lights, and to build Him up. OR was I the main the character & wanting Him to do everything within His power to make ME famous, to make MY name shine in lights, and to prop ME up?

These thoughts were like the Selah’s that are found in various Psalms…making me stop and listen to what God was trying to get me to receive. So much of me wanted to cry out Yes God, you are the main character of my life.  And to some point this is true, but I know He isn’t the main character in every area of my life.

I struggle with the desire to be wanted, liked, and adored…and there is nothing wrong with that. God has placed that desire in every one of us. But He doesn’t want us to search for those affirmations in material things or others but in Christ alone. He desires for us to be satisfied in Him…and we can make Him famous in that manner. John Piper has been noted for saying, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” We can’t glorify God when we find satisfaction in material things or other people…we will end up glorifying that person or thing.

So just as God proposed that question to me, I propose it to you: Who is the main character in your life. Is your mission to make God famous or to make yourself famous? Now I’m not saying that on your journey you wont be blessed be beyond measure, but that shouldn’t be your aim.  Everything we do should be for His glory.

So like me you may have to do some recasting. We may have to hand over the lead script, and step to the side and allow God to be applauded.

Who are you making famous?