The Door of Full Surrender

I felt lead to post and share this devotion today. It spoke loudly to my heart. I so desire to be fully surrendered to Him and His calling on my life. I don't want my fleshly desires to get in the way of His purpose for me ( which it does sometimes). I am praying for whoever reads this and might be at a cross road in their life and wondering what is God doing. I pray that you will trust, fall on your face and rest/embrace where He has you at and know that His plans are a divine purpose for His kingdom. I am clinging with you as we fully surrender to Him alone and saturate ourselves in His love for us to get through each crossroad, bump, heartache and joys that come our way. I love you deeply.
The Door of Full Surrender
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
08-02-2012
"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10 I was recently sitting with the leader of a workplace organization as he described a question he poses to workplace believers. "What if there were two doors to choose from; behind one door was the complete will of God for your life and behind the other door was how life could be according to your own preference. Which door would you choose?" The struggle for most lies in the desire to follow God completely and the fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us. If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal. If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why? Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call. He has much invested in you on behalf of others. He may want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through another. The events of your life would become the frame for the message He wants to speak through you. Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17)

Seasons

Reflecting on my day with my mother and daughter; God brought to my thoughts Ecclesiastes 3:1. “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.”

I spent the day cleaning my mother’s house, taking her to the drugstore, to town and sitting at her feet giving her a pedicure. I never thought of as a young woman, ever coming to this place in my life of taking care of my mother. Her health is declining and the simple tasks of life she used to do are getting hard for her to do now.

My week began with plans of going to Mobile at the end of the week to be with my friends, whose daughter was having back surgery. Brooke, their daughter is severely autistic. By Monday night, I found out my mother was hurting in her hips and back. I knew then, I probably would not get to go to Mobile. But I kept holding out; thinking I would go as the week went on. The day I was supposed to be leaving on my trip, I went to check on my mother, who was not feeling well. At that moment, God told me my priority was to be here, to take care of my mother’s needs. I let my friends know that I would not be coming, but my heart was longing to be there with them during this time in their lives.

Then, thinking of my Mom, Brooke, and Brooke’s mom, Dani, my friend, I knew God had each of us where He wanted us to be, even though in our hearts there was a desire to be together. He reminded me that His plans are not ours and we need to trust Him no matter what.

I am learning through each season of my life that events are not always going to be the way I want them. I am to take these seasons God has me in and embrace them and grow from them. God has taken me through many different seasons in my life, some lasted longer than others. They have taught me about life, who I am in Him, to see the way He moves and to love others deeply. Some of those seasons have been painful and have cut deep into the core of my heart, others have been blessings and joyful. The one thing I do know, even when I don’t understand the season I am in, is that I can lean on Him, embrace, trust and allow Him to love me through it.

Seasons, there are many kinds that come in our lives; happy, painful, growing, lonely, tragic, and peaceful and many more.

So, I ask what season are you in. Maybe God is blessing you so much that it is overwhelming or it is a difficult time. Remember He is with you and will never leave or forsake you! Trust Him, as He takes you through this time in your life. He has a purpose and plan for His kingdom in the seasons. He is waiting with His arms wide open!