When Surrendering to God Is the Breakthrough We Need
I once wrote about starting the new year with hands wide open ready to receive what God has to offer. I’d realized I’d spent too much time gripping tightly the things of the past while missing out on the here and now. Not to mention the future.
If we imagine our hands filled to capacity and fists tightly clenched around the objects of our current desire, can we also imagine how difficult it would be to add something better if it came along? It would require putting something down – surrendering it – to make room for the new.
Have you been in that place in life before? That place where we must surrender one thing in order to receive something better?
Surrendering to God is Often the Breakthrough We Need
Several years ago I grieved the loss of the daughter I thought would be mine. At the time, we were in the process of adopting when I received an email from our agency. The precious face that greeted me in that email made me catch my breath.
She had curly black ringlets of hair circling chubby little cheeks and deep brown, almost black eyes. In an instant, I knew she was the one. She was the little girl God hand-picked to be a Schumaker.
She lived halfway around the world, but I just knew it was her.
We filed all the necessary papers and followed all the steps to make what I already knew to be true an actual reality. It was a crazy thing – this love that happens in one brief moment. I fell madly in love with this little girl – that mama kind of love. Something that could only come from God.
On the day we waited for the confirming phone call we were all filled with excitement. Our boys resisted going to school. They wanted to stay home waiting with me so we could all celebrate together. But I sent them to school with the assurance of a celebration when the school day was over.
As I busied myself with laundry, I awaited the call. When it finally came, I quickly grabbed my telephone. With emotions just below the surface, I was anxious to hear the good news.
“Lori, I’m sorry, but I don’t have good news. Another family was picked. Your little girl is going to Italy.”
My step faltering, I sat down in an attempt to process. But I couldn’t. The news was inconceivable to me. I’d had Holy Spirit conviction. This child was meant to be a Schumaker. It just couldn’t be true.
The next several months I grieved, refusing to relinquish what I believed to be true. I wrestled with God and believed the phone would ring telling me it was all a mistake – that we could travel to Bulgaria to pick up our little girl.
Only that phone call never came and I found myself stuck in a pit of denial and heartache. I couldn’t move forward because I was anchored to the past. And unable to live free because of holding onto my dream instead of God’s plan.
I knew I had to let go if I wanted a breakthrough. I had to surrender and trust that God would bring good from the broken pieces of my heart. It meant giving this little girl – my daughter – back to her true Father. But it didn’t mean just giving her back.
It meant praising God while I surrendered.
Because surrendering isn’t really surrendering until we do it without an attitude or grudge. To fully surrender, we must trust. When we trust, we have peace no matter the outcome. And when we have all those pieces in place, we are able to see the good and praise our God who is always good.
It took some work but I got there. I found the good and praised God because even if I only felt conviction about this child so that I could be her prayer warrior for all the days of my life, that was something to be thankful for. I loved that little girl and wherever she was, she would have someone on the other side of the world praying for her every day of her life.
That’s when it happened.
It’s when the miracles started.
I’d surrendered my life and my dreams yet again to embrace God’s plan and then He began to move. What happened next is far too much to be considered a coincidence. It was the aligning of far too many lives and moments in time to make the unbelievable believable. It was the breakthrough we needed.
I share the whole story in my new book, Surrendered Hearts: An Adoption Story of Love, Loss, and Learning to Trust. I won’t give the ending away in case you want to read it.
But can I put you on the spot and ask you a question?
What is your story? What are you holding onto that God sees differently? Have you found yourself walking round and round the same circumstance just as Moses and the Israelites did for 40 years in the desert?
Are you stuck with fists clenched tightly around a dream of your making? So tightly it’s impossible to grab onto God’s plan? Are you desperate for a breakthrough?
Friend, there comes a time when we must let go – surrender – trust – praise.
There comes a time we wander long enough and we must turn north.
“Then at last the Lord said to me, ‘You have been wandering around in this hill country long enough; turn to the north.” Deuteronomy 2:2-3 NLT
He’s the maker of the heavens and the earth – the God of the Universe. He’s capable of so much more than the dream you are grieving right now.
I know it’s not easy. Our flesh fights fiercely to hold onto our own desires. But I believe in you … and more importantly, so does the God who loves you beyond measure.
Trust Him.
He is good.
Always.
Our Surrender to God Story
My book, Surrendered Hearts, is God’s story. It is how He taught us about surrender and trust and showed us He never leaves us. Surrendering was the breakthrough that helped us move forward and opened the doors to God’s version of how our story should go.
Want more information? My book page can be found HERE! You’ll find the Book Video Trailer and other goodies like shareable images, tweets, and a set of FREE Bonus Resources for anyone needing some extra hope and encouragement. Of course, there are some special bonuses for just the adoptive parent, as well, though!
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Surrender. It’s a word I’m hearing a lot lately, and it leaves me wondering what He’s asking me to surrender. I think there are things we all need to let go of now and again so we can have His best for us. I know it is good for me, but it does feel so hard sometimes.
Oh, goodness, first I read Jennifer’s book about handing control over to God, and now this wisdom about surrender.
I wonder if God is trying to tell me something .. .?
Surrendering is rarely our first option, but when we finally arrive there, we realize it would have been the best choice from the beginning. Thanks for encouraging us!
I love your heart friend, and your story. God is using you big time! xoxo
So hard sometimes, but you are right. So necessary. laurensparks.net
Very thought provoking Lori…questions for prayerful reflection.
Blessings,
Jennifer
Surrender is such a difficult concept to live out. I remember a time when I was unable to move forward because I was very much anchored in the past and could not see how God could possibly make things right. It is an amazing blessing to live out surrender and see His hand lead us into what we were unable to see or understand. I always think of it as “waiting for gold instead of settling for bronze” because God’s best in His time is always the most precious and timely gift.
I love that saying, Crystal! “Waiting for gold instead of settling for bronze.” It’s not easy to always wait, though, is it! But so so SO worth it! Blessings to you, friend!
Lori, girl…I am following your story. I enjoy reading a bit more every week. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
Thank you, Tiffiney! We had a lovely Thanksgiving. I hope you did, as well! I am so glad you are enjoying our story ♥
We have had to surrender a family situation repeatedly through the years. And today as we attend the wedding of a precious granddaughter, we’ll see the fruit of God’s faithfulness, but the truth is we have been seeing his faithfulness in all the events that have led up to this day. Thanks for sharing part of your story.
I would love to hear about the wedding and find out what God has worked! I said a prayer before writing this, Donna, on behalf of your family ♥ Thank you for joining me here each week!