Peace in Your Surrender

” I got this one!! You can have the next one.”

“Well let me just have this one thing, you can have the rest.”

“I don’t like that choice, so I am going with the other.”

Do any of these above statements sound familiar? Maybe you have spoken them to a family member, friend, boss, spouse. I know one person that I have spoken all three of these statements to; GOD!!!

(cue the gasping, “you said this to God!”)

Yes, I have and more then once. Let’s all be honest, whomever is reading this you have probably said the same things to God as well. It is our human nature to want to be in control, to want to make our own decisions even when its the wrong one. Yet we are so quick to blame God when those choices end poorly or when we simply just lose control of our lives and CRASH!!!!

I am a living survivor of that “Crash.”

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I stood up praised God and said “I can’t take it anymore!!! Here God take it all.” Then a few days would go by and I would start taking things back from God and before I knew it everything that I had “given” to God was right back in my hands, at my own doing.

How insane is that?!?!?!?! We have a God who is for us and not against us. We have a God who knows our life plan. We have a God who wants us to lay our burdens down on Him. We have a God who would NEVER give us more then we can handle. Yet here we are doubting His power, His promise and His will for our lives.

Webster’s Surrender definition is this; cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to authority. Our authority is God. He is not our enemy but we often times make Him out to be.

Webster’s definition of peace is; freedom from disturbance. This very well may be the simplest definition to a word that I know of. If you want peace in your life (let’s be real, we ALL want this) just get rid of all the disturbances. But how do we get rid of all the disturbances???

SURRENDER

When you surrender your not just giving yourself up to God but you are being obedient to God. He did not put us on this earth to be balls of stress. He put us on this earth to be salt and light, to be examples of His love, kindness, forgiveness and humility.

Surrender is not easy, it is an everyday occurrence. Every morning I wake up and my first words/thoughts are “I SURRENDER.” (Yes, even before coffee hits my system I am fully aware of my absolute need for God!)

Everyday something new comes our way, a new stress, a new challenge, a new obstacle and then to add that to everything else in our life is unbearable. But when you surrender everyday you are gifted with a new peace everyday. The peace you need to take a deep breath when you overwhelmed by your workload, the peace you need when your kids just won’t stop (mom’s you know what I am talking about!), the peace you need when you can’t pay the bills and don’t know how you are going to get through the next month, the peace you need to get through life everyday!!!!

I can tell you the surrender is worth the peace, and the peace is worth the surrender. It is a win, win for us!!!

So GO find the peace in your surrender!!!!

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”                                                                              Philippians 4:7

 

Receive Grace, Live Grace, Show Grace, REPEAT!!!

GRACE : simple elegance or refinement of movement as defined in the dictionary.

GRACE : (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

Grace is tough!! When I think of it in the LITERAL sense, just being graceful, light on your feet just beautiful movement … I FAIL …. I am a born KLUTZ!!! The hours I spent in the emergency room because I hurt myself should be awarded a medal!!! Then I think of Grace in the spiritual/emotional sense, and if i’m going to be real and honest,

I FAIL AGAIN!!! 

Often times we all want to be shown grace whether it be by our spouse, our boss, our family, our friends and if we are really lucky our kids. But how can we possibly ask for grace if we aren’t giving back grace? As Easter Sunday approaches, I am reminded of the greatest form of grace that has ever been shown to us:

Jesus hanging on that wooden cross and dying for EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US!!

Jesus in that moment showed GRACE to the very worst of humanity. Yet we struggle to show grace to our loved ones and friends most of the time.

Have you ever thought about a moment where you could have shown grace? But you didn’t want to, didn’t have time to, etc. I can think of a time, sadly I can think of more then one time, and I am sure there will be others to come. Now I am not making myself out to be a monster, because that I am not. But I am not PERFECT, I fall short of God’s grace often but even at my worst God’s grace has been at its best!

So the next time you want to be mad at your spouse, SHOW THEM GRACE and ask them whats going on, talk it out.

The next time your kids throw a fit for no good reason, take a breath and SHOW THEM GRACE, because we are our children’s Godly examples.

The next time your boss treats you not so kindly, SHOW THEM GRACE, you don’t know the struggles they are dealing with in their lives.

The next time you hear about someone’s problems, SHOW THEM GRACE, don’t judge them, love them!

Like I said GRACE IS NOT EASY. But it is so worth it. My prayer every morning is this:

I want to be a Mom full of grace 

I want to be a Wife full of grace 

I want to be a Daughter full of grace 

I want to be a Friend full of grace 

I want to be a Woman full of grace 

But most importantly I want to be a child of God full of grace. 

So as Easter approaches, be mindful of the people you encounter, and show grace even when its hard. Because the grace you show someone today, can change their tomorrow.