“Do with me as You please; I am ready for everything, but You, O Lord, must not abandon me even for a moment” Divine Mercy in My Soul # 529
Surrender – to cease resistance and submit to their authority.
The gifts of faith and trust lead a soul toward surrender. How does a soul stop resisting God’s Divine Will and submit itself to follow His plan without trust? How does the soul learn trust without faith? But, what does surrender look like?
I’ve asked many priests, a couple bishops and many holy men this question. I’ve never received the ‘right’ answer. How can I say I’ve never received the right answer if I’m trying to even figure out what the answer is? It’s because the answer varies for each person in the details. That is what I was always stuck upon – minute by minute details of surrender.
For many of us, surrender conjures the image of waving a white flag in defeat. For me, surrender is the beginning of a life of purpose.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “the devil is in the details.” That is true when seeking surrender to God as well. The devil wants us to dig into the second by second, minute details of our day. It is easy for him to point out our failures when looked at under the microscope. When the soul digs that deeply into the moments, it can be discouraging as it sees moments of non-surrender and thereby failure.
God does want total surrender of our lives. So how do we do that? What’s surrender look like?
I find myself struggling with this question. Then, I notice success plateaus. Moments or events that stand out. I’ve never sought leadership or notoriety so when these moments come along, I’ve asked God how this happened when I’ve never sought it. Every time He has answered the same, “You said yes, My son.”
Through this answer in these moments I’ve learned to stop sweating the minutiae, simply striving to say yes. I then know that even small moments of failure add up to surrender training.
The Road of Faith, leadership of Pittsburgh Men’s Emmaus, writing and publishing “I knew His Voice” are all examples of things to which I simply said yes. Each yes shows God’s power through the successes that are attributed fully to Him.
While I can’t answer the question of what surrender looks like to each soul, I would sum it up by saying say yes to God when you recognize Him leading you. The more you hear His guidance and say yes, the easier it will be to hear His voice guiding you. And, the easier it will be to say yea as the ‘size’ of His requests grow because each yes and success builds trust that God is leading which builds faith in His sovereignty in all aspects of your life.
“Your Will be done” Mathew 26:42