An entire surrender of spirit, soul and body to His control in a life of inevitable obedience may look hard to a soul ignorant of God. To those who know Him, it is the happiest and most restful of lives. Could we but for one moment get a glimpse into the mighty depths of His love, our hearts would spring out to His will and embrace it as our richest treasure.
— Hannah Whitall Smith
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
— Matthew 11:28-30
— Matthew 11:28-30
Beloved, can i let you in on a little secret? Life on the other side of absolute surrender to G_d is easy.
There, i just said it.
Oh, for sure our lives will be adamantly hammered by circumstances, tests, pain, hunger, wandering, and even physical death. But let me state something categorically: G_d does not fail us in these times, He gives more grace, more comfort, more clarity, more ability to go through these seasons.
Many of us have spent decades hedging our bets. We’re holding on to that one last attitude, pain, fear, desire or act in hopes that we can mail in a 99.999% complete form and get the credit. And in doing so, we have continued to carry the weight of everything on our own shoulders. Our lives are hard. We wonder why things are so tough. Haven’t we already given so much to G_d!
The problem is not that we are holding back only 0.001% of ourselves. The problem is that we maintain that we have the right to do so. This attitude is what wrecks the whole equation of G_d working His power fully in our lives. That portion of us that stands in defiance to our Lord is leavening enough to cause the whole loaf of a hard life to rise.
But, by His grace, some of us finally lay back and just let Him Love us the way He wants to Love us… And suddenly, everything is different. No way are we perfect yet! We are just willing to let Him explore, clean, work, and Love us everywhere within our being.
And in this moment of surrender, we begin to see that ALL of Him is now all for us, and we are all for Him. He shows us clearly that His Word is true and we are persuaded. He says His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and we reckon it true.
For true it is. And we begin to walk no longer in dis-ease, but in His strength and wholeness.
So, seek you the easy life? Abandon yours to Him. Let Him show you the way.
To give heart and mind to God, so that they are ours no longer – to do good without being conscious of it, to pray ceaselessly and without effort as we breathe – to love without stopping to reflect upon our feelings – such is the perfect forgetfulness of self, which casts us upon God, as a babe rests upon its mother’s breast.
— Jean Nicolas Grou
— Jean Nicolas Grou
