Surrender

But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, 

the One who got you started, Israel; I've called your name. You're mine. 

When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, 

you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, 

it won't be a dead end - Because I am God, your personal God, 

the Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you; all of Egypt, 

with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That's how much you mean to me! 

That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, 

trade the creation just for you. 

~Isaiah 43:1-4 The Message

God loves you and me! Do you believe it? Do you live like it? Does your hope reflect it? Does your day to day life reflect Jesus' love for you?

Bad things and circumstances in our lives, although hard and painful and uncomfortable, happen for a reason, but the biggest reason is because God wants to be in unity with you! He wants to be in communion with His creation! God Almighty wants intimate connection with YOU! 

God took me on another torturous, heart-wrenching journey a few short months ago. It brought me back on my knees, the only place I could be that provided comfort and hope and love for my crushed and broken heart. The only choice I had was to depend FULLY on God Almighty. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else I could do. So that is where I stayed and where I have learned to remain. 

I had a choice. I came to a crossroad. And in that crossroad, I had to choose between trusting God and running away. Was I willing to take that risk to trust God? It would have been so much easier to run. Trust me, running is the easy way out, but in the end you tend to lose and you look back on life and wished you had trusted God. By trusting, you risk your selfish ways and have to surrender your very life. 

"You are going to be hurt and you cannot do anything to prevent it, 

but what you can do is trust God each time a hurt comes along. 

Trust that while you don't have the power to protect yourself, 

He has the power to turn every hurt into something that improves who 

you are and glorifies Him. You will never protect yourself from all the hurt, 

but you will protect yourself from missing the life God intended when you

 make the choice to risk. 

Healing is a choice. It is God's choice, but many times we stand 

in the way of what God wants for us. Our stubbornness often prevents 

us from looking at the reality of our lives, but God challenges us to 

make choices that heal. No choice is more difficult than the choice to risk. 

My hat is off to all of you who will make that choice today. 

Blessings of God be upon you for your amazing courage." 

~Stephen Arterburn

You see, when those hard times come in our lives, where do you turn? What is your natural instinct to turn? Where does your heart tell you to turn? I pray the next time you have a choice, your choose to lean on God and take hold of His love. It's in those times, we learn to trust in God more, because remember, all He wants is connection with His creation. The downfall sometimes is after the hard time passes, will you remain in connection with Him? It's so easy to go back to our old ways, but so much more blessing and heartfelt connection comes when continue to stay in close connection with Jesus. It is soothing to our soul. 

I know it is so counter-culture to walk in the Spirit moment by moment. It takes constant work. Its continually surrendering our lives to Jesus. I challenge you to live by the Spirit in your day to day lives and not just when life is hard. I promise you, your life will be transformed like mine has. Blessings and joy come like you have never experienced before. You begin to ache for more of Jesus and your soul overflows with love and joy.

Life isn't sunshine and roses (yet!), but life is sweet today. Sweetness that only comes from a life living by the Spirit moment by moment. The journey continues to be long for my heart to heal, but I know that God will bless my efforts in risking to trust my life completely to Him. 

Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. 

This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child 

asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, 

do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, 

you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. 

So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better? 

~ Matthew 7:7-8 The Message

My friends - ask, seek and knock.

I would love to walk alongside of you and pray for your journeys, your heartaches, your crossroads.