Mrs. Carol Hopson-Trusting God in Troubled Times

You see, commitment still gives control to the person,
and they can decide if and when they want to be committed…
maybe on Sunday…maybe when life is going
well…maybe after they've been to Bible study…maybe in
certain areas of their life but not all areas…and so on. But
when you surrender, you have no control, no ownership, no
choices…you belong to the one you surrendered to! Being a
Christian means we surrender to the One who died for us.
Think of war times, when a person or army surrenders, do
they have control over what happens to them? Of course
not…they are totally under the control and command of
those they surrendered to. The difference is that we surrender
to the One who loves us and gave His life for us, not
to some terrible, frightening dictator.
This true account is from the book Extreme Devotion,
published by the Voice of the Martyrs.
The pastor [from China] had been questioned and beaten
often, but today the guard took him to a room to talk.
He said, "I'm curious about your beliefs and ask you to
tell me the Ten Commandments."
Shocked, the pastor began to share the commandments.
When he got to "Honor your father and mother," the officer
interrupted him. "Stop there. You Christians believe that
God chose 'Honor your father and mother' as a very important commandment. Please look in the corner." The pastor
turned to see an elderly woman chained and bruised
beneath a pile of rags. She was the pastor's own mother.
The guard inquired. "Look how much your mother has
suffered. If you tell the secrets of the underground
church, you and your mother can go free. If she dies from
our torture, you will have failed to keep the commandment
to honor her, and her blood shall be on your head."
The pastor turned to his mother who was starting to
regain consciousness. "Dear Mother, what shall I do?"
Lovingly she replied, "Since you were a small boy, I have
taught you to love Christ and his church. Do not betray
God. I am ready to die for the holy name."
The pastor looked back at the guard and said with
renewed courage, "You were very right, Captain. First of
all, a man must obey his mother."
That was a picture of true surrender! I can't even imagine
being in a situation like that. However, God gives us
opportunities every day to make the choice to surrender to
Him. So what does surrender look like in our daily lives?
 When we hear news that hurts or disturbs us, we
choose to surrender the fear and pain to the Lord and
ask Him to help us handle it in a way that honors Him.
 When we have a hard, frustrating day at work or at
home with the kids, we surrender our selfish thoughts
that tell us "you deserve better" and focus on God's love
for us and our commitment to honor Him with our
thoughts, words, and actions.
 When we hear that there might be an unwanted job
change or move, we surrender the future into God's
hands and open our hearts to let Him work in us however
He chooses.
 When we have repeated interruptions in our day and
can't accomplish what we had planned or thought we
needed to do, we surrender our plans and accept the
changes as part of God's plan to mature us or His desire
to give us new opportunities to show love and grace to
others.
"I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Thy Law is within
my heart" (Psalm 40:8). Surrender is really delighting to do
God's will above my will…always and in all situations. He
paid the price to have ALL of me, and I have no right to hold
anything back.




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