Surrender and Trust…Trust and Surrender

This year for me has been all about surrender and trust. It has been a very interesting year up to now. It has been a year of many trials…much testing…great stretching…lots of pruning…wonderful rewards…abundant growth…and a chance to fully surrender and trust God.

Every year God will give me a word that will direct the year ahead. The word for 2018 is…SURRENDER. He spoke to me the last Sunday of December 2017 during worship at church. I had no idea all that this word would encompass and what was ahead for me.

As I have gone through this year and been faced with difficult circumstances and situations it seems that “trust“ is what I hear most. He’s had me search myself to see if I really trust Him or if it’s just words that I speak. There have been times that I have really trusted and others times that it was just words at first and then the trust would come. But in everything, He just asks me to trust Him. I realized that in trusting Him…I am actually surrendering to Him and in surrendering to Him…I am trusting Him.

In Psalms 139, David prays and asks God to SEARCH him and know his heart and to TEST him and know his anxious thoughts. When I read this scripture the word TEST jumped out at me. You see, God knows our anxious thoughts but we don’t until we are tested and then we can see where we lack faith and where we need to grow. In order to fully surrender to God and all that He has for us, we have to trust Him.

Today as I was thinking about His call for me to surrender, I looked back over the year so far and I realized that it’s been more like a time of “testing” to reveal “anxious thoughts” that were hidden so that I could learn to really trust Him. Then it occurred to me that surrender happens when I trust and trust grows when I surrender and that we really can’t have the fullness of one without the other. They work together!

God wants us to fully trust Him. He has so much for us, but until we learn to trust Him and surrender, we can not receive all that He has for us.

Why do we find it so hard to fully trust God when we find ourselves in difficult situations? Psalm 139 tells us that God goes before us and follows us…He places His hand of blessing on our heads. Every day of our lives was recorded in His book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. His thoughts towards us are more numerous than the sand on all the shores. He knit us together in our mother’s womb and He knows everything about us. How exciting is that!!!!

We know that God’s plans for us are good and that in every situation He is working for our good. Can we trust that God’s ways are perfect even in the midst of messy imperfection? Can we fully trust Him in it all?

James 1 tells us to consider it pure joy (an opportunity to trust God) when troubles come our way because when our faith is tested it will produce endurance and when our endurance is fully developed, we will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. Can we trust God enough to consider every “trouble” an opportunity to see Him move mightily? Can we surrender and trust in every situation and circumstance? Can we look at every trial as an opportunity to know God better…to see a new attribute of His…to gain another testimony…to grow our faith…surrender and become more like Him?

Romans 5 tells us that we can rejoice when we run into problems and trials because we know they help us develop endurance. Endurance develops character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

God wants us to persevere in hard times…to trust Him even when the battle is raging and we do not see His hand anywhere in it. We need to remind ourselves of His word…of all the times He has moved on our behalf…and that He is already before us and sees us on the other side of the storm. We have been given the authority to win in every situation and circumstance!

We should be able to walk in perfect peace at all times. His word says that He will keep us, all who trust in Him, in perfect peace. When you feel the “anxious thoughts” arising…take a step back and refocus…fix your eyes (thoughts) on the Lord. Remember His faithfulness in times past…remember what His word says…and look at it as an opportunity to trust God and see Him move.

God was, is and is to come! He is the beginning and the end! He is outside of time. He knows the plans that He has for us and our days are already written in His book…every moment laid out before a single day had passed. Jesus has been given all authority and we are co-heirs with Him so we have the same authority. He is always working for our good…in every situation and circumstance. He wants us to trust Him and allow Him to be big in our lives.

As we surrender it becomes easier to trust and the more we trust the easier it is to surrender.

Psalm 105:16-19…He (God) called for a famine on the land of Canaan, cutting off its food supply. Then He sent someone to Egypt ahead of them — Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar. Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.

We all know Joseph’s story…he had dreams…and in the dreams, his brothers and dad were all bowing down to him…but what he didn’t see was all that he would walk through before the dream was fulfilled. He didn’t see his brothers selling him into slavery. He didn’t see being thrown into prison as an innocent man. He didn’t see being separated from his family for years. He didn’t see being put in charge of all that belonged to Pharaoh. He had no idea that when God gave him these dreams that the process would look like it did. But guess what? God knew! Can we…or more accurately…WILL WE trust that God knows best and that everything we walk through has a purpose and we can really (fully) trust God in it all?

Gather you some scriptures to be a foundation for trusting at all times. Psalms 139 is a great chapter. James 1 and Romans 5 are good. There are many more but you can search them out. Get them in your spirit so that when you are faced with troubles you immediately think, “Hey, this is an opportunity for me to trust God and watch Him be big in my life.” and you can remain peaceful and joyful!

Surrender and trust…trust and surrender!!! Live the abundant life that we have been called to live!!

You were created for greatness!!