Ultimate Surrender: Trading It All in for Something Better预览

Whole

Let me comfort you. I know it is hard to hear me when you doubt I was with you when you needed me most. Because it was earlier than your sister’s death that you needed me. It was earlier than the night she died when you cried out, pleading for rescue. I have been there the whole time.

Yes, you are broken. All people are. And no, you are not broken. No one is.

You are not alone. And I can make you whole again.

I know you feel shattered into a million pieces. You want to collect them and offer them up, but you don’t feel like they are worth much. So when you hear the word “surrender,” you aren’t sure it will do any good. You don’t believe your life is one worth surrendering. You don’t believe I’ve come for you. You don’t believe you are cherished and perfectly beautiful and you shine, my daughter, you shine.

Do you know what I love to call you, in the night, when your mind is racing and you want to know—oh, you want to know—why this happened, and how this happened, and when the pain will ever stop?

I call you my Cherished One. I reach out my hand and brush away your tears, and I cradle you. For you are still that little girl inside, you know, my darling. And that is good. It is not bad that you feel fragile. It is okay that you don’t feel whole. Keep looking to me for wholeness. Keep looking to me for all the broken pieces to be gathered and made beautiful. I am whole. And what I am, I make you to become.

Exercise & Prayer

Close your eyes. Open your hands. Trust that God is here. Ask him to come and (1) show you himself, (2) tell you how he sees you, and (3) reveal what healing he wants to do in you to bring you his wholeness. Stay here. Wait on him. Let it sink in: You are so loved by God. And he has promised to make us whole.

Father, I can withstand anything when I know you are by my side. I give you all my pain, my doubt, the memories I wish I could change. You are sovereign, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Help me trust you, knowing there will always be so many things I don’t understand. Help me believe this: I am yours; you are for me; your love for me is in me and will sustain me in the highest waters, the darkest storms. I am your daughter. Let me feel you holding me close. In Jesus’ name, Amen.