Embracing Trust by Joanna WeaverSample

Total Surrender

When I surrendered my life to Christ as a teenager, I sensed the Lord saying, “I want all of you, Joanna. Unconditional surrender.”

With nothing held back, I committed my life to Jesus, and at that moment, everything changed. Instead of the nightmare plunge I anticipated and the unending fall I feared, I immediately sensed beneath me my heavenly Father’s “everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). Catching me, then holding me. Steadying me, then cradling me. In my teenage transaction with God, a decisive battle was settled, and the war for my soul was won.

Oh, there have been skirmishes since then. Encounters with the enemy have made me tremble with fear, but none of these have affected the most important questions:

• I am not my own. I’ve been bought with a price.
• God can do whatever He wants with me.
• I withhold nothing from the Lord.

That last point is important, for until we fully surrender, we will never fully trust. In trying to manage the parts we’ve held back from God, we’ll miss the joy and freedom when we give all we are and all we have to the One who made us.

It’s important to understand that being fully devoted to Jesus doesn’t guarantee that everything will go our way, but that realization doesn’t shake me the way it used to. I pray you’ll also find that firm foundation under your spiritual feet. For there is so much freedom on the other side of surrender:

• Freedom from fear. I don’t have to fear tomorrow because God is working on my behalf. No matter what happens, He’ll take care of me (Matthew 6:25–27).
• Freedom from regret. God can redeem my worst mistakes and turn my life into a display of His amazing grace (Ephesians 2:7).
• Freedom from resentment. I can forgive others (and myself) because nothing and no one thwarts God’s purposes in my life (Isaiah 54:17).

As I’ve relinquished control and placed my life completely in God’s hands, I’ve found that Romans 8:28 is true. Even the most painful trial is working for me, not against me. Because my heavenly Father “causes all things to work together for [my] good.”

How could trusting God change your life in the areas of fear, regret, and resentment?