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The heroes of our faith didn’t trust this great,
good God because they were told they should and they minded — they trusted Him
because He had shown Himself to be great, good, and trustworthy. Not just once — over and over and over again. We
were created to live in surrender to God! No matter what you are going through,
He is trustworthy!
Laura Story
A Great, Good, Trustworthy God
Let’s
say you need an operation on your heart. You can’t do it yourself, obviously.
You’re going to have to trust a professional to open you up and fix whatever is
wrong.
You
probably have a few criteria for someone who will crack your chest and take
your heart in their hands, right?
At
minimum, he or she is going to need many years of study, a current medical
license, and maybe a little gray hair. It would also be reassuring if they were
considered top in their field.
Better
yet, maybe they’ve operated on someone you know, so you’ve seen the results of
their expertise firsthand.
Or
perhaps they’ve developed and perfected the very procedure or technique they’ll
be using on you. (Extra points if it is named after them and written up in
medical journals!)
Way
before the moment the anesthesiologist comes in to put you to sleep, I’m
guessing you will have surfed the internet and learned as much as you can about
your surgeon: how many times they’ve done this operation, what kind of success
they’ve had, where they studied, and how other patients have rated them.
You
will have met Dr. So-and-So at least once and asked whatever questions you have
about this scary thing that is far, far beyond your ability to control.
While
you are unconscious, that doctor will be working hard on your behalf. You won’t
contribute a thing, as you will have surrendered 100 percent control of your
surgery to someone else.
This
is as surrendered as most of us will ever get, and as much research as we might
have done, we will still be giving up control to a stranger.
As
unnatural as it may feel, you and I are created to consciously surrender
control of our lives — heart, mind, body, and spirit — to God.
Not
to a theory or a force or the cosmos. To the one God who is Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit — who has created us, loves us, and set a plan in place to draw us
to himself and care for us forever.
He
knows and wants to be known by us. This is made possible through the person of
His Son, Jesus. It’s not enough for us to just know about Him.
We
aren’t convinced to trust by what other people tell us about God or what we’ve
read in books.
We
come to trust Him when we know Him by experience.
Anyone
who’s had a child knows that it’s one thing to love your child before you meet
him or her for the first time. But it’s another thing altogether to hold that
child in your arms.
Until
your baby is finally yours at birth or adoption, you love them, sure, but with
a vague and hopeful kind of love, a love that is deeply and sincerely felt but
pretty short on specifics.
Our
entire family fell in love with Timothy from the moment we knew we were
expecting another child.
Once
Martin and I got over the shocking idea that we’d be parents of a newborn
again, we were smitten. Josie, Ben, and Griffin kissed, patted, and talked to
the bump that was Timothy for months.
In
the same way, we’ve been crazy about each one of our kids from the first day we
knew they existed.
But
staring at an ultrasound image is not the same as holding the perfect, squishy
little person you’ve carried for nine months or dreamed of for longer.
Once
your baby arrives, you’re no longer dreaming.
You
come to love particular things about them — like the funny sound of their
hiccups, the cute dimple in their chin, the warm weight of their sleepy body in
your arms, and in Timothy’s case, even the tiny split from his nose to his
upper lip that only weeks before his birth had almost frightened us to death.
We
love this boy and his unique presence in our lives.
If
you asked any one of us why we love him, we could tell you — talking for days,
and in more detail than you might be willing to sit still for! Josie thought
her new baby brother was so special that she asked me to bring him to her
classroom show-and-tell when he was only a few weeks old — and I did. (Yes,
these are the things you’ll do with number four that you wouldn’t have even
considered with your first!)
She
wanted her classmates to know her baby brother, too, and I understood why.
Over
time, I’ve come to know a very real God through my experiences with Him and
through His Word. He’s not just the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he’s my
God too.
He
didn’t just part the Red Sea for Israel when they faced sure death by Pharaoh’s
army; He’s also made a way for me in more “impossible” situations than I can
count.
I
love the story of how He guided His people in the wilderness with a cloud by
day and fire by night. And when I’m lost or confused or don’t know which way to
go, He guides me too.
It
matters that He’s the God of history, for sure — but it matters just as much
that we have history, Him and me, and that I know His goodness and power and
faithfulness, not just from my study of Him, but from my life with Him.
I’m
especially encouraged by the Psalms — the very personal journals of men like
King David and Solomon, Asaph and Aleph — and the reassurances they hold of a
God who is near. It comforts me to read words like these:
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, You are
there;
if I make my bed in the depths, You are
there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there Your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast. — Psalm
139:7-10 NIV
Reading
about this ever-present God is great — but reading about Him is only part of
the story. It comforts me to feel that “even there” presence David described
when I long to know I am not alone.
It
matters that the God who can locate a king, who rises on the wings of the dawn,
or who settles on the far side of the sea can find me, driving carpool in the
north Atlanta suburbs, just as easily.
Surrender
to this God is not a once-for-all, do-it-yourself exercise in self-will. It’s
an offering that’s continually undertaken in the context of relationship.
The
one I am surrendering myself to is no stranger: He is the God of “Never
Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love,” as The Jesus
Storybook Bible so beautifully describes Him.
The
heroes of our faith didn’t trust this great, good God because they were told
they should and they minded — they trusted Him because He had shown Himself to
be great, good, and trustworthy.
Not
just once — over and over and over again.
Excerpted
with permission from I Give Up by Laura Story, copyright Laura Story Elvington.
Your Turn
Are
you holding tight to control? Ever since the Garden of Eden we women have tried
to control our circumstances, right?
But,
we were created to live in surrender to God! No matter what you are going
through, He is trustworthy!
Come
share your surrender story with us. We want to hear from you! ~ Laurie McClure, Faith.Full
And, don’t forget to sign up for the I Give Up Online Bible Study!
Laura Story
Laura Story is a Bible
teacher, worship leader, bestselling author and Grammy Award–winning
singer/songwriter known for such hits as “Blessings,” “Indescribable,” and
“Mighty to Save” .“Blessings” was certified gold in 2011 and inspired her first
book, What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops. Laura’s music and writing
show God’s love and grace intersecting with real life and serve as a reminder
that despite questions or circumstances, he is the ultimate author of our
story, as told in her second book, When God Doesn’t Fix It. She has a master’s
degree in theological studies and a doctorate degree in worship studies. She
has served as a worship leader at Perimeter Church in Atlanta since 2005, but
her greatest joy is being a wife to Martin and mother to Josie, Ben, Griffin,
and Timothy.
https://www.faithgateway.com/who-do-i-surrender-to/#.YG-0hzgzaJA
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