Surrendering to God is not always as easy as it sounds. Whenever you hear sermons or articles online say to “let go and let God,” it is easy to say and hear, and even harder to actually do. Whether it’s jealousy, anger, resentment, bitterness, or whatever else.
In the Bible, we are called to take up our cross and follow Him.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 (ESV).
Some pastors will even add this is a daily task. I believe in that and strive to practice surrendering whatever it is I feel I need to yield to Him. Besides what has been mentioned previously, what could you submit to the Lord in your life? Could it be your finances? Your marriage? Your family? Or how about that ” ideal image” for your life which has yet to happen, but you still hold dear? For me, it’s all of the above.
However, His plan and picture for my life could be drastically different than my idea of what I want my life to look like. As it says in His Word: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord” Isaiah 55:8.
Can I get a “Hallelujah”? Praise the Lord for that because our lives would be a wreck if we went our own way instead of following Him.
This is where faith and trust come into the picture. If we don’t trust God, then think about the various blessings we could be missing out on. God calls us to trust in Him.
Abraham (back then, Abram) had to have real trust and faith in the Lord to abandon an area he had lived in his entire life, plus the family he didn’t take with him, to go where God told him to. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you‘” Genesis 12:1. That is the kind of trust that we need to have in the Lord.
Think about this, Abram had to let go of his life that he had well-established to surrender to God’s will. The Lord blessed him because of it. If God asked you to do the same thing He called Abram to do, meaning leave a place you have lived your entire life to go to a place He would show you; not a place He told you about at the start of your journey, but one He would show you, would you be able to trust God enough to do it? Think about that for a minute. I’ll wait.
Letting go is easy when it’s something you’re not attached to, whether it’s a toy, a car, clothes you don’t wear anymore, a person, or even an idea or dream. Let me say that again so the people in the back can hear me: letting go is easy when you’re not attached to or have an investment in that thing, person, or idea.
Every day, we live in these little bubbles where we think we have control, even the tiniest little bit. Whether it’s over our finances, how clean our homes are, whatever. The truth is, we don’t have control. God does. And yet, we’ll do everything we can to hold onto something because it makes us feel as though there is something in this crazy world we have control over. It gives us this false sense of security because knowing we really don’t have control over our own lives makes us feel vulnerable.
Being vulnerable to the God who created the universe can feel scary at first. Surrendering to His will for our lives is scary, if not more so than being vulnerable, but the reward we receive for following Him is well worth it.
What does this mean in regards to a yogic context?
Our physical bodies also need to let go. They have this unconscious habit of holding on to things via tension. This is one reason that when we release that tension during a yoga session that emotions can surface, even after the session is over.
Don’t resist that emotional release, let it happen. Breathe through it. That emotional release is us letting go of something we never knew we were holding onto. It’s a beautiful thing to use yoga as a tool to help you not only get more fit but to let go and release whatever it is into God’s hands while opening up ours to receive whatever He wishes to give us at the time.
As Christians, we have this wonderful opportunity to bring anything on our hearts to the feet of Jesus or we can simply sit as Mary did. Sometimes, it’s sitting there in silence, other times it’s in child’s form with no words and only emotions filling your soul. Surrendering to Him can be so sublime. I invite you to do a personal inventory of what you may need to set at His feet and then go to Him in prayer.
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