Dear Brides, I remember when I was younger I used to do whatever it took to get what I believed I needed or wanted in life. Make hundreds of phone calls, strive and work for what I thought I needed to get done. Now learning about surrendering it has changed the way I do think, I am no longer anxious. Now I know all that I need to do, is not do anything, to allow Him to work.
Finding the Abundant Life has been great! I am currently on Chapter 10 "Surrender" and I would say that every chapter that I have read previously has been beneficial to my life. I am excited about the chapters ahead and what He will be teaching me.
He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. —Matthew 10:39
Surrendering my life to His plans & purposes and when I do that I will find the most amazing Abundant Life!
2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory."
Wow, this has been an amazing chapter for me. It truly spoke to me about so many areas of my life, and I can take this chapter and apply it to every area.
As His Bride, we are not stagnant in our lives but we become more intimate with Him, more joyful. We walk in more and more of His blessings over our lives. We do not stay the same, we start reflecting more and more of His glory over our lives.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4)
Without Him, I can do nothing. Quite simply, this is one of my favourite verses.
“For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30)
When I seek Him for His help He makes whatever I am trying to do easy and light by giving me wisdom.
What He taught me and which helped to renew my mind in one specific area which I am going to write about but there have been many other areas I will share as He leads and I type. This area is a car that my EH and I are in the process of saving up for. My EH in prior years has not made such good decisions about buying a vehicle, so, at times we were left without a vehicle. So each time he would come and tell me about a vehicle he had seen and thought we should consider buying I would become anxious wanting to give my EH my opinion and advice. Just yesterday he told me about a vehicle but when I saw the pictures I just knew I was not keen on it at all. Instead of telling Him flat out that I did not like the vehicle and did not think it was what our family needed, I decided I would be in agreement and when he asked, agreed that we could offer an amount for it even though my heart was not in it at all. PTL our offer was turned down.
I know that He wants me to submit to my EH "as unto Him" trusting Him as my HH to provide the perfect vehicle for our family needs. So this chapter titled Surrender is exactly what He wants me to do. Surrender this to Him knowing that He will provide. Surrendering already is increasing my joy by knowing that He is faithful. He just makes it so easy and light knowing that He is taking care of this!!
From what I understand is that I need to live a life of surrender. Whenever I think of something or someone that concerns me that I need to surrender and tell my HH that I surrender it to Him, that without Him I can do nothing.
Another area of surrender, something I have been struggling so much with, is my weight, my eating habits. I have tried many things and from what I understand from this chapter, the writer encourages me to surrender this area to Him. This is very hard for me as there was a time when I lost quite a bit of weight when I was working full-time, I attended a Zumba Strong class, and I was doing other exercise and jogging. But now that I am working from home and I have my 3 yr old little boy with me, I cannot go jogging because I don’t have a stroller as I gave his stroller away to my sister-in-law. And I don’t walk a lot as I used to when working full time and would walk during my lunch break and to different departments. I’m struggling to muster up the enthusiasm to do workouts at home. My eating is a real problem as I cannot pack my lunch as I did when I worked. It’s true what the writer says, He really will bring me to the end of myself where I cry out to Him and eventually decide to do nothing, to surrender so that He can take control.
I am not sure that I have fully surrendered this. I feel like it is an ongoing struggle but I am starting to believe that only He can help me. So my desire is that He will help me to fully surrender. His Word is so true, without Him I can do nothing.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear the fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15: 1–5)
I have a testimony of when I did nothing that I want to share. A couple of years ago I needed a job. But I did not just want any job. I prayed and said, Lord, I want a job where I can be trained to do the work and told the Lord that He knew my abilities so He should provide according to that. Then after sending my CV to so many places, I decided I was going to do nothing and trust Him.
Well, I truly believe looking back that because I made that decision He was faithful and provided the perfect job for me at that time. Someone else who knew I needed the job sent my CV to the place where I got the job. Now reading this chapter I realise it was because I surrendered. He can do ANYTHING! I truly believe that by surrendering we limit Him!
I will be living these principles by surrendering, by really not doing or saying anything. Trusting You Beloved to work it out. Not trying to change anyone’s mind or giving advice but by surrendering that person or situation to you. Surrendering my struggles to you. Not trying to make a plan or allowing myself to brood or think about it as thinking too makes me anxious to rather say a little prayer:
“My Beloved I surrender this person or situation to you. Your word says all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes. So I believe that you will work things out because without You Beloved I can do NOTHING!”
Dear Brides. This is one of my favorite chapters. Please read it because this chapter will bring you so much Freedom! Why sit with worries, situations, people that are troubling you when you can Surrender it (them) to the ONLY one, your HH who can truly make a difference and turn whatever it is around for your good?!
In previous chapters, we learnt that He is waiting on high to have compassion on you. So surrender knowing that He will work it out, knowing that you can do nothing and that only He has the ability to fix it. It’s true what the writer says, don’t try to fix it yourself or try to do something. By surrendering you do nothing. Fully and completely trusting Him.
This book is practical. I have read many books and listened to many sermons but never have I been able to go away and actually put what I have learnt into practice in my daily, hourly life like this book. In the way, I think and do things. In problems, people, situations, and trials that come up in my daily life.
The most important thing He has taught me is to read the chapter and then tell Him about it, asking Him what it is that He wants to teach me and take away.
“Better for Me Then, than Now”
Marriage Evaluation Team Minister