I talk a lot about our ability to choose our responses and stances and postures throughout our lives. There’s much we have no control over or choice in, but how we walk through life – that is our choice.
I was one who, at an early age, grabbed hold of faith. I trusted that Jesus is exactly who He says He is. I believed wholeheartedly that He dwells in heaven, can see us, and has a will for our lives. But as I got older, doubt crept in. I began seeing the world as such a broken, hard place to live that I wondered where God was in it all. I even questioned why God had so many ‘rules’ and how they compared to what the world had to say about things like sex and drunkenness and abortion. My faith wavered.
It took some dark valleys and long seasons of self-induced struggles before I realized that my faith had never been anchored on anything I had actually reckoned for myself. I had simply taken other peoples’ words for it. I learned that ‘faith’ doesn’t transfer from parent to child, from teacher to student. I recognized my need to wrestle with my questions and feelings and ideas – with God.
I had to make faith my own.
As I began investigating Scripture and inquiring of believers around me, something inside me began shifting. My heart softened enough to receive God’s love. My tight-fisted hands released in such a way that I could let go of needing to be right. And my arms began opening wider and wider to the person of Jesus. By my own choosing, faith was taking root in the soil of my heart.
Closed Off
Over the course of my adult life, I’ve had people want to debate the Christian faith with me, and let’s just say I am no debater. Yet, in my desire to help them find faith for themselves, I would enter into conversations about God and Jesus and the Bible. And almost every time, nothing I could say would change their minds. Long before they engaged with me, they had already chosen their stance – something to the effect that faith in a God we cannot see is silly, if not crazy.
In their perspective, believing in a power bigger than themselves is more than they can conceive of or sink their teeth in. They’d rather live their lives banking on what they can witness and touch – not on a God who seems so out-of-touch or untouchable. Their minds remain firmly shut. Their hearts stay closed off.
I cannot force anyone into faith. And neither will God – because He desires that we’d come to Him of our own volition.
He hopes we’ll embrace faith in Him because we actually believe him (John 5:24).
He longs for us to embrace His love for us by choosing to love Him (1 John 4:16).
He wants nothing more than for us to embrace Him – with open arms and hearts.
But He gives us the choice. Believe or don’t believe. Love or don’t love. Trust or don’t trust. Accept or refuse the truth that will save us (2 Thessalonians 2:10).
I have a friend who, out of frustration in her life situation, recently cried out to God most vehemently and vulnerably, “I need to see You do a mighty work!” The next day she joined her new team for practice and got to talking to a teammate – only to discover this woman was an ardent atheist.
Yet when this woman invited my friend and her pastor husband to trivia night at a local pub, they said yes. They had a blast, and my friend – for reasons beyond her understanding – heard herself telling this woman about their church.
And on Sunday — She. Showed. Up.
But God wasn’t finished. This non-believing woman’s cold interior thawed that morning, and in short order, she gave her life back to Christ, having been apart from him for decades. She and my friend now meet regularly, God having brought two women, who were broken and desperate, together so that they could watch Him reignite both of their hearts with flames of faith.
A mighty work indeed!
What was closed off has been opened. No one forced this non-believing woman into conversations or church or Jesus’ arms. But when given the opportunities, she took them. She chose faith – and she and my friend will never be the same.
Open Arms of Surrender
I don’t know the hurts in this woman’s heart. I don’t know her history or why she had turned away from church and Christ. But I do know she opened her arms in full surrender by stepping through the doors of a church – and back into the arms of her Savior.
And that can feel like a scary, risky thing to do – because to embrace faith is to release our need for power, our determination to provide all the answers, and our belief that we can be our own saviors. Sometimes surrender looks like trusting God with our past pain or the fear of future failures. Other times it means we acknowledge and release our compulsive need to be in control. In other words, to embrace faith is to relinquish control, which is illusive at best and a chaos-breeder at worst.
Whether we’re believers who have walked with Jesus for four days or four decades, we all need to surrender areas of our lives and hearts and minds to the Lord. And when we get honest, we’ll discover that we have layers upon layers of brokenness – because we’re human. But because we have embraced faith in Jesus, we can give every shattered piece to Him. He’ll even help us uncover the ones we’ve buried deep in our souls!
One way to expose our areas of control is to assess our lives and current circumstances to see where chaos exists (ie: anxiety, depression, frustration, anger) – because those are the places we’ll find control.1
“Control breeds chaos,” yet the reverse is also true – “surrender yields peace.”1
Our world holds much confusion, even antagonism, about the idea of surrender. Every synonym for surrender reeks with negative connotations: giving up, abdication, resignation, submission… Even from the very beginning, humans resisted surrendering to the Father’s ways. We thought we knew better (Genesis 3).
So it’s important we understand what surrender actually is. First, to surrender is to be responsible,1 that idea of doing all that we are able to, physically and spiritually. And, it’s also acknowledging what we cannot do – like making another person change or avoiding all pain ever.
When we surrender…
We take hold of what is ours to do.
And, we let go of what is out of our control.
We surrender all we are, all we have, and all we will be to a loving Father who will always, always welcome us back into His wide open arms, who will always hold us in His heart. And, it’s there we find the peace we’ve been looking for all along.
As we barrel into another new year, it’s wise to pause. To evaluate where chaos exists. To recognize where we’re exerting control in places and on people we aren’t meant to. To surrender all those areas to our good Father by opening our arms and hearts to Him in faith – faith that He will always be there for us and with us. Faith that He will keep His word. Faith that He has plans for us that are good.
Faith isn’t meant to be a blind leap or a constant battle. It’s meant to be a full-on embrace of the One who has given us the freedom to choose Him. Faith is an embrace that gives us space to wiggle with our questions, to get to the heart of all the chaos in our lives, and to surrender, layer by layer, every area of our lives to our Savior – the One actually in control.
Father God, how freeing it is to recognize and receive the truth that You are in control. You are Sovereign and Almighty. At the same time, You are Love. And that very aspect of your character, love, prompts You to give us room to choose for ourselves whether or not to put our faith in You – initially and day-by-day. We carry in our minds the image of the father who runs down the road to embrace his wayward son because we know this is a picture of You! We never have to worry about your heart for us! Lord Jesus, our Savior – the One at the wheel – we confess the ways we put ourselves in the driver seat as we attempt to stuff feelings, avoid pain, or assert our own will over yours. We choose You, Jesus. We choose to embrace all of You – your love, your will, your way. Holy Spirit, help us to break habits and lay down fear so that we can truly trust Jesus with ourselves and families and circumstances. We know it’s one thing to say we will embrace our Savior and surrender our hearts, minds, and bodies to Him – and another altogether to live that out. We know we need You to live with that kind of resolve and resilience, strength and surrender. Our hearts and arms are wide open! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(inspired by Ephesians 1:11; Matthew 19:26; 1 John 4:16; Luke 15:20; Matthew 28:18; Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 3:5-6; Romans 6:13-14; Psalm 37:5; Romans 8:26-27)
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – Lysa TerKeurst on Annie F. Downs podcast, “That Sounds Fun,” episode 927 — this one is really great for lots of reasons, but Lysa’s discussion about surrender really jumped out at me!
- Our Embrace Faith playlist has much to say about building faith — from song-prayers that ask God to “Give Me Faith” and assure us that He has “Good Plans” for us … to exhortations to “Trust In God,” we are covered in truths that sing over us and through us. May we open our arms and hearts oh-so wide and embrace all the truth, all the love, all the faith. XOXO
- The Abiding Life Newsletter hit inboxes and Substack last week. If you’d like to read it, email me!
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is what aids us in our desire and ability to become more Christlike.
When it comes to strengthening our faith, awareness, confession, and repentance rank at the top of practices — because so often our faith feels weak because we’re distracted, stubborn, blind to our ways and habits, or so broken that we just refuse to receive what Jesus has for us. So, maybe the first step is to ask the Lord to show you what inhibits our faith — what keeps us swirling in the chaos? What holds us captive? Once we’re aware, we confess is. We tell God. We let our own brains and hearts know. Then we repent — we turn from old ways of thinking and acting, and we start surrendering. And receiving all the grace and love He has for us. As we do, we’ll discover freedom!! And strength. And little things like hope and joy… 😉
- Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s amazing grace with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world!
Featured Photo by Ben White on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” photo by Sahand Babali on Unsplash.
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