Tag Archives: Living A Surrendered Life

A LIFE OF STANDING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD

January 31, 2019 12:17 am , Leave a Comment ,

I’m remembering my grandfather’s legacy of love and faith today on his birthday. He passed away at the age of ninety-six in 2012 and he left an eternal impact on my life.

As I’ve been pondering Poppy’s life, I thought about how he was a beautiful example of a man standing on the promises of God and living a truly blessed life.

Poppy was not perfect—because no man on Earth is flawless, but he loved Christ with all his heart and kept his priorities in the proper order. He was a man of prayer and faith.

At his funeral, one of the speakers shared about how my grandfather was the kind of prayer warrior that would get up in the middle of the night to pray for an urgent prayer request. Poppy walked by faith so well and his life continues to inspire me even all these years after his death.

There is a verse in the Bible that comes to my mind when I think of Poppy. Deuteronomy 5:33 says, “Walk in all the way that the Lord has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”

Poppy could have lived a tragic life. His earthly father passed away on his 11th birthday and left him fatherless. However, he chose the high road and he let God fill the void in his heart after losing a parent at such a young age.

The tragedy in Poppy’s childhood did not prevent him from living abundantly. Poppy surely prospered in his life. He had a rich marriage with my grandmother for seventy-two years. He stayed committed to her and loved her through the good times and through the hard times. He was a man of courage and a man of honor. He loved his family and friends so very much.

God’s promise of an abundant life was fulfilled for my grandfather because he walked closely with his heavenly FATHER and depended on Him for everything.

God keeps His promises. The blessings promised in the Bible come forth in our lives when we trust Him and live fully surrendered to Him. May you be inspired by my grandfather’s life to trust Christ and stand on His promises in 2019.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thanks so much for Your goodness and thank You for the countless promises in the Bible. Help us to keep our eyes focused on You and let us stand on Your WORD every day. Give us confidence to do the things You’ve called us to do and let us take steps of faith toward the callings You’ve prepared for us. Let us turn away from idols and love You more than anything else. Help us fulfill all the purposes You have for each one of us and lead us to all the new beginnings You have for our lives.  We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Posted in: Legacy, Stories of Faith , Tagged: , , ,

LIVING WITH A SURRENDERED HEART

January 26, 2017 9:10 pm , Leave a Comment ,

LORD, WE SURRENDER ALL YO YOU

As I laid my head on my pillow one summer night years ago, my mind was clouded with worried thoughts. It was the only time in my life I ever felt anger toward God. Jesus, I’m mad at You.  Jesus patiently listened as I poured my heart out to Him.

I was questioning the Lord while my husband was facing another season of unemployment. Why are You allowing this to happen again, Lord? After several minutes of wallowing in my pity party, I fell asleep.

I woke up eight hours later with a new attitude. How ridiculous for me to be mad at Jesus. He’s the only one who can truly rescue us from the difficult challenges. Being mad at God will only make things worse.

After realizing how silly I was for being mad at Jesus, I prayed, “Lord, forgive me for my silliness. Please forgive me for being mad at You.”

It was in that precise moment that I arrived at the end of myself. I prayed, “Lord, I surrender everything to You. I will do anything You want for me to do or go anywhere You want for me to go.”

Prior to that moment, my fear of losing my home was holding me back from surrendering all to Christ. In the previous decades, I had surrendered parts of my life to Christ, but this was total surrender. It was the last time I ever tried to do things my way, without Christ’s help and guidance.

With a serious heart and a little bit of humor I told Christ, “You can have my house, all my material possessions, even my closet full of clothes, but will You please leave me one outfit?”

Obviously, I knew that Christ was not going to leave me destitute with nothing to wear, but I wanted to lay everything down. I was more serious than ever about following Christ’s will and no longer living controlled by my own will.

Christ rewarded my seriousness in the form of a great miracle. Amazingly, about two weeks later, my husband was offered a job that ultimately led him to his dream job and far exceeded any of our expectations. Miraculously, my fear of losing our home subsided and we are still living in our house after thirty years. Keeping the house was no longer more important than following Christ, so He helped me keep it.

There is something mysterious about totally surrendering to Christ. It’s as though our submission to His will opens the door to the supernatural realm.

When we place Christ as the highest priority in our lives, then miracles begin unfolding left and right.

I’m a work in progress and I do not have this journey of following Christ figured out, but I can testify that total surrender is the key to the door that leads to abundance and never-ending joy. Disappointments have absolutely no power over us when we live with a surrendered heart moment by moment. When desiring nothing but Christ’s will, we see His glory in greater ways and we are free to live in His abundant peace eternally.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come to You with gratitude and we thank You for Your never-ending grace, mercy, and love. We surrender every part of our hearts to You and ask You to guide us in everything we do. Let us pray without ceasing and let our relationship with You be the most important part of our lives. Help us to grow spiritually every day and let us look to You for every need. Let us make a difference in the world every single day and let us share Your love in countless ways to those who are hurting. Fill us with bold faith and let our prayers shake the heavens and bring down the dark forces that seek to devour us. Let us arise as powerful, mighty warriors and let Your glory and light shine brighter than ever in all of us so that multitudes of people will come into Your kingdom. We trust You to keep Your hand upon our families and our nation and we wait expectantly for You to reveal Your glory in greater ways in 2017. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

Luke 9:23

May you have a blessed year in 2017!

XOXO,

Amy

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REJOICING IN SMALL BEGINNINGS

August 16, 2013 3:42 pm , 6 Comments ,

We were ecstatic when my husband Michael was hired by a small German company after a two and half year season of him being without full-time work. But as we began to ponder the details, we realized that it wasn’t exactly what we had planned for. After all, my husband had returned to college and worked tirelessly earning a Biomedical Engineering degree. We had expected to have a better salary, better benefits, and most definitely hadn’t planned on Michael having to live in Germany for three months of training.

Without medical coverage for me and the kids, Michael worried that he may have been making a mistake by accepting this job. I wondered, “How in the world will I handle everything with my husband in another country?” After some time of wrestling with God, we surrendered to what we believed was his divine plan for our family, but not without reservations. It was hard to let go of our concerns without all of the dots connecting.

Still, we moved forward with faith. As I trusted God, I could hear His encouraging voice in my spirit. He reminded me of a scripture in Zechariah. “Do not despise small beginnings…”

Looking back, I am beyond grateful that I chose to trust God during that season of small beginnings. If we had not, our family would have missed, perhaps, the greatest blessing of our lives. Within months of Michael accepting the job with the German company, it was bought out by one of the largest corporations in the world. We were blown away by the medical benefits, the increased salary, the opportunity for promotion and growth. Who would have dreamed that our obedience in following Christ in the small things could lead to such grand, new things?

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin…” Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

I’m linking up for Five Minute Friday where Lisa Jo Baker and other awesome people write for five minutes flat with no self critiquing or no striving for perfection. This week’s prompt is: “Small.” Today, I wrote for about twelve minutes, trying to find a good stopping point.

 

Five Minute Friday

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