Surrender vs Guilt

Before we surrender ourselves to God we must learn to trust Him. Before we can trust Him, we must feel loved and safe. When we accept that God created us and that He loves everything that He created, time is still needed to reach the goal of surrender. That destination has many roads, rocky trails and paved paths, that lead us into confidence to reach out and take the risk to surrender.

Quitting on the other hand doesn’t require any of the above. To quit we don’t need courage, love, trust, determination, resiliency, or patience.

Both require letting go. In that sense the challenge can be daunting. One difference is that quitting is the easier choice and can lead to a path of despair. Surrender requires much more and yet it leads to love.

When a person is given a terminal diagnosis, they may get some say in the path to take. The options are endless and the negotiation between the Creator and the human are mysterious. Because there is much we can’t know, it is so valuable not to judge these complicated spaces of suffering. Respect the situation with empathy and recognize that much is beyond our understanding.

Many years ago, I knew of a man who was in many life struggles, business failure, family falling apart, drinking a lot, when he received the news, he had cancer. He did not live much longer. Perhaps he lacked the energy to fight the battle.

Another situation in my more recent awareness was very similar. That person fought the disease and remains here among us. He is moving forward with a new set of beliefs and a light in his eyes that at one point was almost invisible.

My neighbor recently told of his return to life. He was told there was nothing else to be done. He refused to stop yearning for a path of healing. They told him the treatments were so horrible that he would suffer greatly and beg to stop. He did it anyway.

When he was in ICU, unable to talk, he overheard 3 doctors taking guesses on when he would die. In his anger, he motioned for a pen.

He wrote a note saying… I’m not given up and you shouldn’t either.

It’s possible that he is currently living his best life.

The other night he and I had a rich conversation about some struggles of life. He was helping his wife load her car for a craft show that she was taking her artwork to sell. He is very much alive in body, mind and spirit.

Then there is an incredible mother who continues to fight the unbearable. The pain and suffering are hard to comprehend even though her descriptive words of recall are helping the people around her see the strength she is needing to remain here. She has surrendered but refuses to quit. May God remove the memory of her pain.

Following a traumatic birth, the parents of the newborn were told the baby wouldn’t make it. The doctors encouraged the young couple to allow her to die. The parents said no. They felt she worked hard to survive. They would do all that they could to help her live. Almost a year later that beautiful baby is bringing a lot of joy to anyone who knows her. To see such strength in a little human is humbling and something to take notice of.

When an addict finds the strength to fight of his addiction by digging deep to remain sober, he gains access to a higher power. Perhaps the example of a loving stepfather can help reveal what a Father’s love should look like and perhaps that example helps the addict understand the value of being a good father to his own son. In the surrender, God is given permission to bring about the strength and courage needed to fight the battle in the mind, the conflict of lies vs truth.

Then there is the young adult whose nightmares are relentless, creating turmoil and chaos in her mind unceasingly and yet she surrenders to rehabilitation. She’s been there before. She knows the pain will increase intensely before she will find relief and yet she goes willingly when it may have been easier to quit.

Included in my journal mantra of record keeping are memories of my dad in his final days of life. At 82 years old, experiencing heart disease since he was 45, his body had fought pain and anguish for years. Laying in the hospital bed, experiencing physical and emotional suffering, he cried out to God…

I’m ready dammit! Let’s go! (Still makes me laugh when I think of it).

He lingered for several months in this state of suffering. His words said he was ready to quit but his body wasn’t cooperating. This wasn’t about quitting. It was about surrendering. He was struggling with how to do it.

Dad worried a lot about purgatory. So much so that he ordered many copies of a book on the subject and he would give them away to anyone he thought would read it. In the front cover he wrote… please pray for Will Haas. Maybe that worry delayed his entrance into heaven? Maybe that worry kept him from truly trusting that he was ready for heaven?

We will never know but I was a witness at his passing and the look on his face revealed all this believer needed.

His face had turned from pain to peace.

The stress on his body had disappeared.

The struggle to take a breath was no longer.

The crystal blue in his eyes was like he was seeing God for the very first time.

Awe is the best way to describe what he was experiencing the moment before he left this world for heaven.

His surrender had come to completion.

God is passing out miracles beyond belief!

The numbers are profound, and they are increasing.

Sometimes that miracle may include bodily healing but sometimes the miracle may manifest in ways that aren’t as obvious. If the person’s purpose is complete, God promises to provide for the ones left behind. The ones grieving won’t find comfort in this promise for a while. Some emotional healing will need to occur before the surrender of acceptance can be tolerated and then embraced.

If you aren’t seeing the miracles, you may not have your eyes focused on the Holy newsfeed!

Look for them!

Listen for them!

And if you need someone to tell you about them, give me a call!

Where much suffering is present, God’s grace is greater!

Please choose surrender over quitting!

God is reaching out his hand but in order to surrender, we must reach back to him and grab on!

And then hold on! God doesn’t know what a driver’s license is! He breaks all the rules of the road and rarely travels on smoothly paved highways!

Stay Blessed ya’all