Hi Friends! Welcome to Episode Nine of the Reaching Hurting Women Podcast: A Contemplative Path of Recovery where we are learning new ways of coping with our daily struggles. My name is Tamara and I will be your host. This week we are talking about: Surrender.
When we hear the word surrender we may visualize a criminal holding up his hands to a police officer. Or maybe we imagine a soldier waving a white flag in surrender to the opposing army. Our lives aren’t quite that dramatic but the concept of surrendering to a Force greater than we are is still valid.
We really aren’t strangers to surrendering. There are many forces driving our lives that we have surrendered ourselves to. We have all surrendered to things, people and forces in our lives. Be it long work hours to pay for our over-extended finances; various bad habits: food, drinking, smoking, shopping, gambling; unhealthy relationships; laziness, binging on the media and Internet sites… this list could go on and on.
But when it comes to turning the tables on surrender, replacing the bad influences with The Best and Highest Force: God—we are uncomfortable, uncertain, and even fearful. There are times I can get to a place of surrender then in a few days I find myself carrying the load yet again.
Not only is surrender vital to a successful recovery from addiction, it’s important in our walk with God. Until we take life out of our hands and allow God to be the Master in charge, the path we walk is crooked.
A ship can’t be steered simultaneously by two captains going in two different directions. While I’m trying to type on this computer, someone else can’t come along and try to type with me. These objects: the computer or the ship can only be used or directed by one. They each must be surrendered to one user.
All of God’s creations, the sun, moon and stars; the plants, trees and animals are absolutely surrendered to the mighty hand of God. We, like they, have our place in His universe.
Surrendering is scary. But what we must remember is that we aren’t going into this alone. God is with us. God isn’t going to ask us to do anything He doesn’t equip us for.
For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. ~ Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
This verse tells us that God not only will give us the desire to surrender, but He will give us the power to do it. Everyday, over and over again; as long as we make ourselves available and willing vessels in His hands, the Holy Spirit living in us will do the work of surrender for us.
Remember what I said before about surrendering one day and then picking back up the load another day. Well, we can’t get hung up on that. We have to believe that what God has started in us, He will finish. The key is that we stay close to the Holy Spirit, guarding our input and influences so that we can be moldable vessels in God’s hands. God will honor our efforts when we humble ourselves before Him.
This is where the contemplative practices of centering prayer and visualization can help us. Do you recall that game we played as kids where one of your friends would stand behind your back and you closed your eyes and would fall back into their arms? That was real surrender!
Take a few minutes to sit with God. Pick a sacred word or Scripture to help center your heart. To calm my heart and mind, I like to sit quietly and repeatedly whisper Psalm 46:10 (Be still and know that I am God.) or the word peace.
After you find your sacred word or verse, think about that feeling you had falling back into a friend’s arms when you were a kid. Now begin to visualize your life completely surrendered to God. Next visualize your body completely surrendered to God… then your heart completely surrendered to God … your mind completely surrendered to God … your soul completely surrendered ...