According to Webster “Surrender” is defined as
: to agree to stop fighting, hiding, resisting, etc., because you know that you will not win or succeed
: to give the control or use of (something) to someone else
When we choose to surrender to God, we are agreeing to stop resisting and give God complete control over our lives. Letting God take control is still a frightening concept for me because it speaks to the unknown. In life, I want control, I want to know what’s going to happen so I can prepare for it. However, life is not like that. There is much we can’t control. Letting go and trusting God is always our best option. Intellectually I understand this and over the years I’ve learned to trust God more.
Learning from past experience helps me to surrender. One experience stands out in my mind as most illustrative. When my oldest son, Mark, was a little over a year old, I went with a friend to her neighborhood’s garage sale. There I purchased a small scooter for Mark to ride. Later that afternoon I tried to interest him in the scooter, but he didn’t seem to get the concept. To help him out, I placed my foot on the scooter’s seat, grabbed the small handlebars and started making circles around our aggregate driveway, all the while saying, “Look at Mommy, see, you can do it too.” I watched for Mark’s reaction, then looked down and saw a crack in the driveway. It’s funny, but I was all of two inches from the crack and instantly I knew what would happen, I would fall hard. Also instantly I knew exactly what I needed to do under the circumstances: I completely relaxed my body, tucked my head and landed hard on my shoulder first, then back, hip, until I lay flat out on the driveway. In short, I surrendered completely to the experience. There I was laughing and crying at the same time. I’m not sure what was worse, the feeling of embarrassment for the show I’d just put on for my neighbors or the pain I felt in my body. My husband ran over sure that I’d hit my head, but I hadn’t. This was because I surrendered which caused me to relax and remember to tuck my head. Yes, it was a painful experience, but other than a some bruises and feeling sore for a few days, I was fine. My injuries were far less serious than they would have been had I in any way resisted the experience, one that I understood was inevitable.
What I learned from this is that surrender works. Most memorable is that conscious choice I made to surrender. In life painful things are going to happen to us, that’s a given. When we choose to surrendering we find the wisdom needed to handle what comes up. God is there to see us through all our experience whether we judge it good or bad.
I hope my experience is helpful to you. If you have any thoughts you would like to express regarding surrender, please feel free to share them!
May God’s Peace Be With You!!!
Pam