Hello! It’s a beautiful, sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest West and Mount Rainier looks gorgeous covered in snow. I love it!
In my writing room, on my desk, and on my walls, I have various quotes from different authors and teachers of mine that inspire, educate, and direct my thoughts on my writing and my faith.
Today, I was re-reading a quote that I had written down from my Oswald Chamber’s devotional, dated April 28th, that I had focused on last year.
“The true test of abandonment or surrender is refusing to say, “Well, what about this?” The moment you allow yourself to think, “What about this?” you show that you have not surrendered and that you do not really trust God.
But once you do surrender, you will no longer think about what God is going to do. If you totally abandon yourself to God, He immediately says to you, “I will give your life to you as a prize…” And once you do get to the point of total surrender to Him, you will be the most surprised and delighted person on earth.”
Reading this today really convicted my heart. I have a few projects I am working on that are definitely God-given—-jobs that I would never have taken on myself. I truly feel blessed that these opportunities were provided to me by Him. 🙂
However, today I find myself asking that very question about one of them in particular, “Well, what about this?”
When that happens, I focus so much more of my effort and concern on fixing what I perceive to be wrong, instead of praying and leaving it to God and His timing, knowing that resting in where He has me today is right where I need to be.
Now don’t get me wrong, I work here and there on normal mistakes and problems, that can easily come up. The “problems” I’m talking about are where you know deep down inside yourself you’ve given it enough attention and you need to move on, but…just one more thing! You don’t have peace anymore about it and all clear thoughts are gone.
At this point, I know that the surrender I once had given to God is gone, and I need to give complete surrender back to Him. It is not my will I want done, but His.
I know that God has brought me to this very moment in time. I believe that He is the Orchestrator of my life and that every event in my life has His seal of approval.
Flora Tan, a Christian blogger, explains it perfectly in this way, “As a Christian, yielded to God’s will and committed to do His will, I know that I might not be perfect but as I surrender my life to Him day-by-day, He holds my destiny in His hands and brings to perfection that which is lacking in me through situations and life experiences.”
Our Father and our God, I surrender my heart and life to You,
Day-by-day,
moment-by-moment,
I surrender all to You, knowing that You alone are the Author and Perfecter of my faith. (Hebrews 12:2)
All the glory to God,
Shanon
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost For His Highest. “What You Will Get, April 28th devotional.” Discovery House. 1992. Print.
Image of Philippians 1:6 by 4GIVENministry.com.
Image of “I surrender…” by I Surrender All–Adams Rib. adamsribpodcast.com.
Tan, Flora. Christian blogger. 2018. www.a-simple-christian.com
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