Faithfulness: Do You Surrender?

Sunday, 08 November 2009

Faithfulness: Do You Surrender?
My most recent goal: find joy, comfort, strength and all of my needs in Christ alone. This is so much harder than I ever perceive it to be, no matter how many times I try to make Christ the center of my life, I always fail by not always asking for His advice in my decisions or not thinking that I need to go through Him to make each decisions in my life. Instead, I take things into my own hands and live by my rules. I do not fully give up every part of my life to Him. I am just too full of myself to let the power go out of my hands and into His. In a lot of ways I can be independent, but in all of the areas of my life, I need to submit to Him -- This not being what I always want to do, and that shows when everything turns out wrong, but I know that this is what I need to do and He breaks me gently each time I stray away from His plan for my life.

"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your love, O LORD, endures forever -
do not abandon the works of your hands"
- PSALM 138:8

God is so faithful to those who love Him; why do we lose faith so often? He has an amazing plan for my life. If I trust Him enough, everything will fall into place. If I learn to live like He wants me to and surrender my wants for His wants, then I will find far more blessings than anything that I could search for on my own.

I flew out to California to visit my sister, Mary, on Tuesday. I had tried to pack as LITTLE as possible, because I would be here for five days, but I did not want to bring "everything, but the kitchen sink", so, for Kristi Zimmerman, I packed light. I limited myself to one book of reading material, other than the Bible, and chose When God Writes Your Love Story, co-authored by---a husband and wife---Eric and Leslie Ludy.

On my ride out to Los Angeles, I finally pulled out the paperback and picked up from where I left off, skimming the previous chapters to catch myself up and then I continued to read. I came across a chapter, which directed my attention to Proverbs 31. Just about everyone who has done a deeper study into the Bible would know the "stereotype" of this specific chapter. Although this usually is referred to with negative connotation, there are verses within this chapter that are worth taking a closer look. One of these being verse 12, "She [the wife of Godly character] brings him [the husband] good, not harm, all the days of her life".

America views relationships differently than other parts of the world. Some countries still have arranged marriages, where those getting married do not really have much of a say, nor want much of a say, or the worry, in whom they marry. Almost instantly after puberty, girls and guys start looking for love or want that someone who could possibly be the one they will spend the rest of their lives with. I know I was not outspoken with this desire, but inside, I knew that is what I longed for one day was that "special someone". Even little girls dream of finding their "prince".

Why do we worry so much? God already knows and is planning for you to meet that person and both of you, at the right time, will be able to give Him glory as you grow together and point each other to Christ. Looking back at the verse and having read it before, Leslie Ludy gave me something intriguing to ponder, that I had not picked up before. I am to bring good to my "husband" [hypothetically, right now] ALL of the days of my life. Have I been faithful to my future husband? I want to be a wife of Godly character and this is what I am striving for as well, on my journey to look more like God each day.

Something important to keep in mind when dealing with striving to be more like God is that, you should not wait to be more like God when you think it is appropriate, but to start now. I know that I am not close to becoming a wife, but that does not mean that I cannot practice the behaviors of a Godly woman beforehand; you know, I am just working out the kinks. Inside this verse is something stronger than when it is looked at with face value. I need to start honoring God will all of my actions and honoring my future husband in my present actions as well.

There have been times where I have not been all that faithful to either of the previous statements, but life is full of learning experiences, and this one just landed in my lap. Honoring my future husband. How do I do that? I really do not know what I am doing. Right now, I know my focus needs to be on God and how He is the only one I need. I know that God is going to have to reveal to me the parts of my life that I need to work on in considering this one, but I have a pretty good idea that this is going to be a heart-breaking, mending, renewing experience and all for His glory. I sound brave, but relationships are something that I hold onto with a death grip. I am actually shaking in my boots. However, God is not pulling the reigns away from me, but He is telling me that I need to willingly hand them over to Him. In order to fully experience the life He wants and has planned for me, I need to let go of all the autonomous thoughts in every aspect of my life, knowing full well that I need Him. He will fulfill His purpose for me.
In the morning when I rise,Give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
but give me Jesus.
This is a prayer for me today. I want Him to be enough, because He is enough.
How do you or can you take hold of your thoughts and let God lead you? Are you ready to surrender?

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Comments (6)

I am always struggling, knowing that I don't seem to give the Lord, the first priority. I always have a way of looking the other side when someone, criticises the religeon, Christianity, but I certainly will be offended if someone took a shot at my country! Now why would that be? Isn't it, My Lord who provides me everything???
Now this was the question I asked myself when I got up his morning....
- 11/8/2009 12:58 PM
- proudmomof_two (message)
- reply
The way I do it is to really go forward in my mind to the end of my life, I figure out where I want to be at the end of my life. Next I come back to the present, the here and now physical world, and I try to make the changes needed to achieve the goal: bringing people to God and securing my Heavenly home. Now I can do this by not hanging out with certain friends for example, those who maybe are indulging in worldly pleasure, or those who may turn me away from following God, to those who will not listen when I say what I need to say in regards to my/their spiritual life. It will be painful, but when all and said and done, it doesn't matter what you say, or who you hangout with down here on earth; all that matters is that you say what they need to hear, and God will take care of the rest. All in all you cant change a person, only God can.
I hoped this helps
And yes, I am completely ready to surrender to God and I think and hope and pray and am and have been doing that. I am sick of pain and suffering, I do want nothing, absolutely nothing more than to surrender into His arms.
- 11/8/2009 1:32 PM
- westernsoul (message)
- reply
Even though we know it's right to surrender to God's will, to say yes to God, it is very difficult to do. It's a daily struggle for me. The ancient Greeks thought that to know the good was to do the good -- this is clearly not true, because we are not just intellectual beings; we have been wounded by original sin. We have to surrender daily to Jesus.
- 11/8/2009 2:18 PM
- monobeam@xanga (message)
- reply
Why do we worry so much? God already knows and is planning for you to meet that person and both of you, at the right time, will be able to give Him glory as you grow together and point each other to Christ.

Then explain why so many devout Christians live their whole lives without ever getting married?
- 11/8/2009 5:41 PM
- sarahzthoughts@xanga (message)
- reply
good post.. :)
- 11/8/2009 10:43 PM
- china_doll26@xanga (message)
- reply
Something to think about if you care to. The dilemma arises when we think God or the true nature of our lives exist outside of ourselves. Jesus pointed this out in so many ways. A great sage once explained that if you think the true essence of all life is outside of yourself you will never attain enlightenment. This would be like a poor man counting his wealthy neighbor's money. The poor man will not gain one penny though he counts his neighbors money day and night. Maybe you are looking inside of yourself. I don't know. I do know that just as if you wear pink sunglasses the world looks pink and darker if you wear dark glasses, God appears in the world when you find God inside of yourself. There is no other way.
- 11/9/2009 9:08 AM
- TheSutraDude@xanga (message)
- reply

About the Author

From: Kristi_Zimmerman@xanga
Name: Kristi
About Me: I am just a small town girl who likes to smile. I am a Junior at Cedarville University and am enjoying my time there. However when I am at college, I miss being at home mostly because I miss my family and my little pup, Reb (a.k.a. Rebel, or more affectionately, Boo), however, I miss the trees in Maine and also the law that pedestrians have the right of way...oh well...I'm just a small town girl. On a more serious note, I hope you can see me as someone who can brighten up your day and make you laugh or give you a smile or a shoulder to cry on or someone to give you a hug. I am someone who will always be available to listen. I won't judge you for what you say, but if you want, I can do my best at giving you some friendly advice, but I'm not promising that the advice will solve all your problems. I want to be someone great for God. I want people to see something different in me. On days that I don't necessarily feel like smiling, I should because there is a life beyond this one.