Letting Go

Earlier this week, I was reading my favorite author's blog called "What's Your Focus Word for 2015?". In her blog, she wrote that every year she chooses one word to be her focus word for the year and this year she chose faithfulness. I thought...what a great idea! So, I started thinking about what my focus word would be for 2015, and guess what the first word was that popped into my mind? Surrender. Ugh....not exactly what I was hoping for! But after thinking it over, it made perfect sense because in my last blog I had mentioned that I've been really struggling with wanting to control people and circumstances in my life.

So, if surrender is my focus word, then what does it really mean to surrender? First, I looked up the word in the dictionary. According to Dictionary.com, surrender means "to relinquish possession or control over" or "to give up control of something to someone else". 

Next, I opened my Bible to see what I could find in Scripture. Here are a few verses that stood out to me:

"Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him." ~ Psalm 37:7 (GWT)

"Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer." ~ Job 11:13 (CEV)

After researching what it means to surrender, I discovered that instead of relying on God to work things out, I've been trying to manipulate others, force my agenda, and control every situation. For the past few years, I have really struggled with wanting to control my kids. It was easier to do that when they were little, but now that they are teenagers, it's all out war! 

The truth is, my desire to control everything stems from fear; from wanting to protect my kids from failure and from the hurts of life. But I'm learning that I can't control everything, no matter how hard I try. What I need to do is let go of my kids and let God work. I need to step out of God's way, because he may be using a problem or circumstance either to fulfill his purpose in my life or in my child's life. 

For me, surrendering means I must be willing to follow God even if I don't know where he is taking me. It also means I need to trust God's purpose for my life (and my kids' lives) even if I don't understand the circumstances. And I must to do all of this with patience and prayer. But the bottom line is this: Surrender isn't about giving up; it's about letting go.