As I’ve written about before, I’ve struggled with anxiety over some pretty ridiculous stuff, and I’ve also written about before, God tends to use little things in life to plant ideas for my blog in my head. Well, about a week and a half ago, He used both my anxiety and the little things in life for the idea for this blog.
I was in a lecture the other day and I started getting pretty anxious. I clasped my hands together, as one may do while praying, and I squeezed them together to try and calm myself down. It was in this moment that God spoke to me and said “Stephanie, in order for you to calm down you have to let go of yourself and hold onto My hand.” After hearing this, I unclasped my hands, and held onto His hand. I was immediately calmed and I was anxiety free for the rest of the class, and the rest of the day. My God is faithful.
So what’s my point in all this? When we try to fix things ourselves, or we think that our way is better, or that we may think we know what’s best, we are shutting out God from our lives, and the result is anxiety, tension and discord. In order to let God into our lives, we have to let go of all control in our lives. We have to let go of what we love, of our dreams, of our needs, everything. God is the ultimate provider. When we let go of our lives, it opens our hearts to let God work in us. Another term for this is surrender.
Surrendering everything can be a scary concept, but if we really understand what we’re doing when we surrender, it is the best thing that we can do for ourselves. Surrendering to God means placing our hopes, our dreams, our needs, and essentially our life in His hands for Him to figure out. All we have to do is trust that He will guide our footsteps. Some people, (myself included), want control of their lives. We think we know best, but the truth is, God created us. He has known us before He spoke the universe into existence, and He knows what every day brings. Therefore, letting God work in our everyday life, when He already knows what's happening, is the safest and the best way to live.
Surrender is also the ultimate test of trusting the Lord, and He delights in us when we trust in Him. We have every reason to trust in Him, because every word He has spoken is true. (Proverbs 30:5) And if this is the same God who spoke the world into motion, sent Jesus and then raised Him from the dead, and the God who loves us more than the stars in the sky, then I’m ready to surrender what I have to Him and trust Him with every part of my being.
As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to leave a comment or connect with me on twitter (@stephaniejtay) to let me know what you think, or how God is working in your life! All glory to God.
Until Next Time,
Stephanie