At His Feet

Depending on God requires a step first that may make some of us uncomfortable...surrender. The word surrender, for many people, simply has a negative connotation, but it’s just how you look at it. For many of us growing up, surrender was something you did with the candy you were eating right before dinner or the water balloons you made while nobody noticed, right before you launched them out your bedroom window and got caught. While surrender does impart a giving up of something, what we are referring to here is a giving up of something that is harming us or simply a relenting to another’s will. Since God’s will is perfect and because it is pure and out of perfect love, His will cannot hurt us. Here’s the thing; surrender, in and of itself, leads us to depending on God, to digging into Him and to literally clinging on for dear life. When we let go and say, “yes Lord”, the very next step is to ask His direction, get instruction, seek wisdom and discernment, stand on what we know and take steps of faith. I now see the word surrender as so much more and so beautiful; you can FEEL it, soft and wonderful, like a big hug. Surrender is like a bridge supported by the weight of obedience that brings us closer to Him. When I first started feeling God asking me to surrender parts of myself, I wasn’t sure how it would work or what it meant. I grew up with ginormous walls around my heart and so this was a whole new kind of life for me. According to Miriam Webster dictionary, surrender is, by definition, “to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc. (because you know that you will not win or succeed)” or what I think applies here even more is “to give the control or use of something to someone else.” Therefore, surrendering to God is to give up control of our daily lives to Him.

If we could learn to surrender every moment as it unfolded can you imagine the peace we could experience, or the joy we could uncover? In this surrender then, what exactly are we surrendering to? We are surrendering to the beautiful presence of God, to His Grace, to His Glory and for His Glory; and lastly of course, His beautiful and perfect will for us. We are told to “love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). That’s a tall order to fill. There is only so much room in a human heart, only so much understanding in a human brain and not enough awareness of our human soul and what it needs. Without surrender we cannot even begin to fulfil this obligation. We must surrender parts of ourselves that allow God to fill with Him. There is no other way.

Again, let us learn to know and rely on the God who loves us. Every new name we adopt for Him is an opportunity for us to connect with Him in a deeper way. These new connections widen our heart. If you think about it, it’s very simple. Know God in more ways. Grow your relationship to new heights and to new depths. Open yourself up to more of His love and more of His mercy. Gain experience. Stand on what you know. KNOW AND RELY. And probably at that point He will ask you to do some crazy thing you never thought possible, like write a book or something! You know what I mean. As we know Him more we learn to rely on Him more. Then we learn to place our faith in Him more but because faith is an action word it usually comes with walking something out (or sometimes just getting out of the way). This book, your marriage, a mission, etc. We MUST continually seek truth, take His hand and walk it out. That is the faith journey and that is why we depend on Him.

God is readily available to those who call on Him and to those who wish to know Him more. He is like a diamond that you hold up to the light and see in a plethora of angles. As soon as you turn the jewel a little, the light changes and the view is different again. Throughout this book we will turn The Jewel, to see Him in a different way so we can go deeper still, learn more, live a bit differently, appreciate more and find more joy; in Him.

Depending on God allows us to have more freedom, more victory. I have been able to (re)discover Him and experience a higher level of joy and freedom for sure, and I will tell you that I absolutely needed a higher level of joy and freedom! I had, and perhaps you can identify, a lot of baggage in the thirty years before I met our gracious Saviour, and my share of new stuff as He worked to free me from the strongholds of my past. He came to set the captives free; I was most definitely captive. As we share our hearts with Him, our lives become less complicated and more focused on the goal of knowing Him and especially knowing His will for each of us.

My heart aches to know God. I yearn to experience Him as much as I can to create not just moments of peace and joy, but a lifelong relationship with Him where that peace and joy is a daily realization. MY DEEPEST DESIRE IS TO PURSUE HIS WILL FOR ME. This desire has been my greatest joy and at times my greatest challenge. My purpose is to seek Him AND find Him, to hear Him AND listen and to ultimately do what He calls me to do.