We all like to be in control of how we want our lives to be. I often like to come up with a detailed plan for how my day should go. I get disappointed when a day doesn’t go as planned. I often do the same with God; I come up with a plan on how God should change a difficult situation. When He doesn’t change it according to my plan, I start to complain that He is not doing anything in my situation. Recently, God taught me a valuable lesson, which motivated me to write this article.
I had prayed about a specific situation to change for many years, and I had come up with a plan on how God should change that situation. I used to get frustrated when the situation was going the opposite of the plan I had come up with. I was getting to the point of questioning whether God really cared about me and the situation. There was a day when the situation was getting worse from my point of view, and I was praying with a friend. She mentioned the importance of surrendering to God and how freeing that was for her when she did that. I don’t remember if I verbally surrendered that situation to God, but I felt in my Spirit that I gave that situation over to God. It was very freeing as soon as I did that because I had been carrying that load for a long time. I experienced a peace that surpassed all understanding. I also saw something God did that assured me that He was in control of that situation when I finally let it go.
Often we want to keep holding on to our plans and don’t want to give them to God because we don’t trust that God cares about our future. This situation helped me realize that only when I surrender my situation to Him, He can start working on it. Just because I surrendered to God doesn’t mean it will go according to my plan. God knows the bigger picture; we only see a situation from our perspective, and often our thinking is limited. His plans are way better than mine, and we can trust Him. According to Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways. And My thoughts than your thoughts” (New American Standard Bible).
Based on my experience, I’ve noticed that God doesn’t force us to surrender, but He patiently waits for us to give that situation to Him so He can start working. He can help us only when we can get out of the way and let Him lead us. My prayer recently has been to surrender my everyday plans and challenging situations to God. It is not a one-time prayer, but I have to do this every day because it is easy to come up with my own plan and not let God lead me every day.
