You are anchored to God, so why shouldn't you surrender?

[Elizabeth & the anchor]

Today we had a wonderful day. A morning of worshiping God, reading a wonderful book, "Surrender", by Nancy Leigh Demoss. Later we took a trip to the Nautilus submarine in Groton and walked around Old Mystic village. It was a lot of quality time, which we all really needed. This morning I reread Nancy Leigh's book, and I just had to share how wonderful it was to read. She talked in the beginning about a Japanese soldier who refused to surrender the war, or believe his country had been surrendered for 29 years. When he finally gave into the fact that he didn't need to fight and that WWII was truly over he was so relieved, but also so stunned he had given up so much of his life for a fight that had already been finished.then we read about the example of Eric Liddel, how he ran a race he had not prepared for so he could surrender his Sundays to the Lord. We also we read of how when he died, his last words were, "Annie, it's total surrender". He always submitted to God in life, and especially in death.

Eric Liddel was a gentleman who spent his whole life totally sold out to God, he was looking forward so much to finally knowing he was totally in God's will.

When are you going to put up the white flag? I think I need to put it up every A.M. . It is so easy to take over your life every morning when you get up But as it says in Nancy's book, why do we doubt that God does what he does and knows what he is doing? Anyway, He is GOD, and we are not.

Nancy put it like this, "God says, here is a blank piece of paper. Sign your name at the bottom line , hand it back to Me, and let me fill in the details. Why? Because I am trust worthy, because you know how much I love you: because you live for My glory and not your own independent, self-promoting pleasure". [pg 60]


Nancy goes on to write on page 169 "Someone has said that the will of God is exactly what we would choose if we knew what God knows. The problem is, we don't know what God knows---which is why we so often find it difficult to embrace His will and why we must learn to Trust and Obey".

I was thinking about this today when we saw all the sailing ships and the anchors. The power of water has become a great thing to us lately with all the flooding and major storms. We have had real life examples of how strong the flow is and how the power of God in nature is incomprehensible. To be carried off by a strong stream is only something we can imagine until we experience it, and only then do we really understand its danger. But we have an anchor, He is the Lord Jesus. He is there to protect us from the strongest storms, but only if we surrender and hold fast to Him.

There have been many discussions around here lately about what is the will of God, especially in our young adults lives. But to me it seems really clear. No one but God knows what the plan of your life is, but you are to follow where he leads. He leads each of us in unique directions, according to our strengths, weaknesses, talents and desires. If God opens up a door for us and we are sure it is his way to go, we are to go. If he closes a door, we are to stop. A friend may get married, or become a missionary, or serve their family, but that doesn't mean you are to do that also, unless God tells you so. There is SO MUCH MORE to life than "follow the leader".

You must pray, and seek God's direction, and pray again, and think, "Is this a way I will Glorify God in all I do? We are to be lights, and it is dark in the world. If all the lights are in one room, then the rest of the house is dark. Finding the will of God is a mystery, but he has solved it for all of us. We are just to surrender and obey his leading's and we will have peace and not go off on rabbit trails as the Japanese soldier, Hiroo Onoda did.The battle is over, it is time to surrender. It means saying, "Yes, Lord, I am your servant/slave, and you know my weakness, my fears, and my personal desires. But I will embrace whatever You reveal to be Your will in this matter". [Page 171 of " Surrender".]

When we moved back to New England in 1997 I sang in a church choir, and I love to sing. One of the songs we sang a lot really helped me through the moving transition, especially when Brewster was commuting to Cleveland to work, leaving me in a new place with 8 children. Written from the words of David Livingstone,

"Lord, take me anywhere

only go with me, lay any burden on me;
only sustain me,
sever every tie;

but the tie that binds me to thy service and thy heart".

When the storms come, if you are not anchored in the Lord, your strength will be no good, it will not hold you and you will be washed away like the sand being pulled back into the sea.

Surrender is not easy, especially for a strong willed and hard working me, but it is really what I need to do every day. I hope I have grown up finally and have learned to obey.
The goal of being an older woman who is wise, and one who does things God's way is a worthy goal to live for. And the only way to keep safe in the raging storms of life is to be already totally surrendered to God's infinite care and wisdom. There is only one true happy ending, and it is total surrender.