“We will never be over those things that God has set under us until we learn to be under those things that God has placed over us. There is strength through surrender” (Adrian Rodgers).

Surrender and submission are two dirty words in this society. Maybe the only two dirty words left, since all the others have been deemed fair game. But God’s ways are not our ways.

There truly is strength through surrender. As soon as we put ourselves under what God has placed over us, the more we experience peace and joy. The more we know God’s will and hear God’s voice. The more we see God at work around us and in us.

The crux of the matter is that we are not our own. We were bought with a price. We’re free but not like the world says we’re free. We’re not free do do whatever we want whenever we want, acting out any and all impulses, sexual or violent or otherwise, without any consequences. We are free to do and to be all that God made us to do and be. We are free to flourish as we lay down our lives as Jesus did only to get them back, more abundant and overflowing.

The problem is that I want my way some of the time. I want God’s way some of the time, but in my own timing. As in right now. The best way is God’s way in God’s time.

The hardest truth to accept is that God’s ultimate desire for us is not our happiness but our holiness. And holiness comes through hardship and suffering and loss, but the thing is that there is no true happiness apart from God. And holiness, once it is birthed in us, brings joy. And joy stays when happiness comes and goes.

May our prayer always be, “Not my will but Yours,” and “I surrender all.”