Surrender
With the start of 2022, I, like many others, begin to reflect on this past year. Scrolling through our overflowing camera roll and snapchat memories, we are reminded of the good, and maybe not so good times we experienced the past 365 days. Looking back on specific moments in my year, I catch myself thinking, “Darn, I wish I would have ________” or “If only I had done________” or “This year I will _______”. The list goes on. Life happens, and our seemingly perfect “2021 year” didn’t go as planned.
The other day in my quiet time, something really stood out to me regarding the new year and continual goal setting / resolutions. I think one reason that we so often forget our goals, become frustrated when we fail to achieve them and ultimately come to the conclusion that “this isn’t my year,” is because of the expectations set before us by the world. When the world tells us we must continually do more to be more, we feel incompetent. When our strategic plans for the new year begin to fail, we oftentimes associate the expectations of the world with God’s expectations. We begin to believe that our heavenly Father is looking down on us in disappointment. That we can never measure up. In this past year, I know I have unintentionally believed the lies that God’s perception of me was the same as the world’s. When I fell short of the things the world told me would make me worthy, I believed I was spiritually incapable of worthiness in God’s eyes. I don’t know what battle you faced with meeting these unachievable expectations set before us, but a few lies I caught myself believing might be the ones you experienced too: bad grades define me, I need to have my life figured out (struggle with uncertainty), I shouldn’t experience loneliness, I am defined by my past, struggle to discover my purpose.
When I allowed my mind to be transformed into an earthly view of worthiness, I drew further from the Lord. I could tell when I found myself resorting to a spiritual absence with my father. I somehow believed that because of my inability to meet the spiritual standards placed before us on earth (church every Sunday, quiet time each morning, never getting angry or upset, etc.) , I would feel safe if I avoided confession. Let me go ahead and tell you, this is furthest from the truth. Straying away from our Lord when we experience hardships, confusion, or uncertainty on earth only leaves us feeling broken and empty. In my life specifically, I experience my greatest distance from the father when I become too hard on myself. When life gets busy and I am drained, I fall short of resting in the word of God. I beat myself up when I miss my quiet time, lash out at someone I love, or become too busy to focus on my true purpose in life set forth by God. However, God doesn’t call us to be perfect, he just calls us to be persistent. Persistent in following his commands for our life.
Thus, when I begin to think of my goal for this year, I pray for the gift of surrendering. Focusing on surrendering to God in every aspect of my life: spiritual, physical, emotional, social, etc. Rather than finding a distraction (social media, sleep, etc.), I pray for a renewal to seek out our God who is waiting with open arms.
We, as humans, are imperfect - and that’s ok! We serve a God who IS perfect and has all the answers we need. Life on earth is temporary - I pray we can make the most of every season in life: the good and the bad! For God tells us each season of our life has a purpose and leads to the future ahead of us.
I want to leave you all with a few quotes and bible verses to set us on a path of newfound strength and hope a we enter this 2022 year!
“I hope you realize that everyday is a fresh start for you. That every sunrise is a new chapter in your life waiting to be written.” - unknown
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17
When we make the choice to surrender all aspects of our life to God, we will become a new creation in him! That, after all, is the best gift I could ask for in this 2022 year!
Thedailydoseofjesus!
XO,
Frances
