Surrender

I recently stumbled across a song by a female Christian band and was humbled and convicted by the power of the lyrics. The lyrics explained the command we have from Christ to surrender ALL daily to Christ (including all your hopes, dreams, fears etc.) and to trust that in doing so He has your best interest and His glory in store. Being a sinner who is so easily mislead and deceived by the desires and passions of my own heart I am constantly reminded at how often I fail in this area of surrender. I desperately cling to my own fantasies of how my life should and might pan out and in doing so create burdens that I bear as those things are not fulfilled in how I would expect. Although God is sovereign and will do what He wishes I don't always believe that.

I can encourage others about how faithful the Lord is and remind them of His goodness and His promises, but I fail to believe and TRUST in those very things myself. Desperate for change and encouraged by a fellow believer I found practical steps to take in order to tangibly erase my false expectations. I wrote a list down of every dream, false expectation, plan, and goal that "I" wanted for my life and then I ripped it up and threw it away and fell to my knees expressing my only desire which is to pursue and magnify the Lord. Although I know that this struggle is going to continue in my life because of the battle that wages war within, I am confident that as I run hard after Christ these other things will pale in comparison.

I love reading the stories in the Old Testament about God and the Israelites. Although Jeremiah 29 is not written specifically to us, I am confident that because God's character doesn't change the same God who was faithful to give the Jews a future and a hope will do the same for those who He has chosen today.

I know that many, especially girls struggle with having "Dreams" which are really fantasies based on false expectations we gain from the world about how our lives should pan out one day. May your motivation to run the race surpass those desires and even cause them to fade away completely as you seek to magnify Him. God wants to use us as tools for we are His workmanship created to do good works.(Ephesians 2)

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. " -1 Corinthians 9:24

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." -Hebrews 12:1


Here are some of the lyrics to the song "Surrender" by Barlow Girl
My hands hold safly to my dreams
Clutching tightly not one has fallen
So many years I've shaped each one
Reflecting my heart showing who I am
Now you're asking me to show
What I'm holding oh so tightly
Can't open my hands can't let go
Does it matter?
Should I show you?
Can't you let me go?

Surrender, surrender you whisper gently
You say I will be free
I know but can't you see?
My dreams are me. My dreams are me

You say you have a plan for me
And that you want the best for my life
Told me the world had yet to see
What you can do with one
That's committed to Your calling
I know of course what I should do
That I can't hold these dreams forever
If I give them now to You
Will You take them away forever?
Or can I dream again?