Through God’s Grace and Power, I surrender and I change (a sweet deal!)
Today’s post begins with a quote on surrender and a prayer. It was written by a participant, who has spent many years in anonymous groups and also, multiple rehabs and this is what he writes:
I choose to take the help; A Prayer
A Personal Story
There was a time in my life, when I was trapped in a thought pattern that I just could not shake. I was single, and wanted not to be single. I suppose I was lonely. I was also, on hindsight, simply not satisfied with being alone, I had not welcomed this and I was far from grateful. I was in my early 40’s and just wanted that “someone special” in my life. Sundays were the best and the worst. I loved the worship that I was involved in at church. At the end of the service families went off to eat, my family was far away, other singles went off to spend time with their families and so I just went home alone.
This scenario set the scene for a life-controlling thought pattern; I attached my thoughts onto a nice guy I had met and took these thoughts further than reality. This then impacted my daily life for months, and something needed to break or change.
I was not happy
Surrender became my path to freedom
I was in Montana. I remember the moment that I gave my singleness to God. I was sitting in a hotel room, alone. This giving over of my single life did not come without tears or a sense of loss. There was a moment where I experienced a deep grief. Alongside this, over the next weeks I noticed that I was content, and no longer trapped in a vortex of spiralling thoughts. I was free. More truthfully; I had been set free. I no longer needed that “special person” to fill the void. My life now was free to serve God without the enslaving thought patterns. Jesus met me at the point of pain and changed me. He didn’t immediately change the circumstance of singleness, although in my case this was soon about to change. The difference was that now I didn’t need another person to fulfil me. Only Jesus can do that. That is a much better way to go forward into a relationship and freeing for the other person as well.
Surrender, or a giving over your life and its deepest struggles to God, is the most freeing act you can do. I can honestly say that I had no control of the consequences once I surrendered, but God in his grace and mercy changed me! I do try to talk to God about everything. I encourage you to do the same. There are probably things every day that I still need to surrender; Lord, make me aware of all the life-controlling thought patterns and actions that I am holding on to, and the willingness to let them be changed by Your marvellous grace and mercy.
Proverbs 3: 5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Sally Childress
Co-Founder of Free! Recovery and a believer in the freedom that only Christ can give.