We have all been through an unplanned, yet extensive, lesson in the unexpected over the last few years.
My brother and I sat on opposite sides of my father’s hospital bed after a surprise incident that required emergency surgery and a follow up procedure to fix. The three of us watched President Trump announce a state of emergency for the entire nation on the tv in my dad’s hospital room. A ticker at the bottom of the screen scrolled with an endless loop of schools and other public buildings that were closed until further notice.
Five days after returning home from my father’s four night hospital stay, I started having symptoms of COVID-19 which eventually blossomed into bilateral pneumonia. While I battled my illness, Adam and the kids started their own bouts with the new illness. By the time my husband was well enough to return to work, his employer decided they no longer needed him. All of this came just six months after returning from Haiti where we had spent the previous nine-plus months working through political instability that left us continually uncertain of when manifestations and road blocks might pop up. Plans and life in Haiti changed regularly and the ability to make trips to the open market or grocery store became hit or miss. Even electricity became limited and inconsistent.
Needless to say, I have lived through my fare share of the unexpected.
Throughout these experiences, I have discovered a mindset and heart posture I believe has helped me work through the unforeseen circumstances of life. It is a posture of surrender before God. When I have tried to control all the aspects of life, all I ended up with was frustration and anxiety. Living in Haiti taught me there is so much which happens in life over which I have no control. This was a tough lesson to learn but I am thankful for it.
Surrendering to God means I choose to stop trying to figure everything out ahead of time.
I no longer have to know how each situation will work out nor do I stress over what I think the desired outcome should be. Instead, I choose to believe He is sovereign and in control. Believing this in my head is easy; I have heard this since I was a child. Living as if God is in control and therefore I don’t have to be, is much harder.
I also choose to believe God is working all things together for my good, in His timing (Romans 8:28).
To me, that means no matter what I see in front of me today, I can be confident that some way, some how, God is going to work it out for good. This gives me the freedom to let Him lead no matter what path He chooses to have me traverse. More often than I would like, God does not choose the path I would have picked for myself. However, His way is perfect (Psalm 18:30), no matter what I think about it.
Choosing to surrender is not a one time choice, but one that I have had to make daily, often even multiple times per day.
My need to remind myself often that I need to surrender every struggle, every victory, and every decision to God is so strong that I had it tattooed on my inner forearm. It is a permanent visual trigger which tells me the best way to walk through life is not by trying to control everything around me but instead to surrender it all to my Heavenly Father.
Surrender is a practice: minute by minute, thought by thought, action by action.
I have seasons where I do really well with it and others where I begin to hold tightly to life again. In those times when I am faced with a big decision or feel anxiety taking over, I am reminded to check in with my heart and my spirit and recommit to living a life of surrender. I have accepted that this practice will never be easy but will always be beneficial.
Well said!!