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Words of Wisdom 125 On Transformation Through Surrender
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Seek to continually be in a
state of surrender to God.
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Being surrendered to God means you
are present, willing, and accepting.
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When you are in a state of
surrender, you are present in
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the moment, connected to God.
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You are willing to receive God's
love and welcome His presence.
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You are His, surrendered fully to Him.
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You are not too hurried
to notice God's direction.
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You're seeking Him each
morning and opening your heart
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to Him throughout the day.
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When you are in a state of
surrender, you are willing to
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do whatever God wants of you.
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You are openly seeking God's
will and direction for your life.
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You are not taking control of your life.
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You are entrusting that
control over to God.
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Instead of being driven by fear
and the unknown, when you are
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surrendered to God, you live in
a trusting relationship with Him.
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The state of surrender is optimistic.
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And open to God, who you trust is at
work, regardless of what you can see.
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When you are in a state of surrender,
you are accepting of suffering.
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You can accept comfort in His
loving presence, as well as
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suffering, loss, and the desolation
of not feeling God's presence.
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You can accept the bitter and the sweet.
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Come what may, you are His.
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Whether you understand why you are
suffering does not ultimately matter.
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What you decide to do in the midst
of suffering is what matters.
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You can open your heart to God.
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You can welcome the highs
and lows of life with a quiet
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acceptance and a courageous faith.
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When you are surrendered, you
don't need things to go your way.
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You can lose yourself to God
and desire only what He desires.
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The furnace of suffering reveals
the treasures of transformation,
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so do not spurn its refining fire.
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Make your highest aim in life
this one simple intention: to be
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in a state of surrender to God.
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Quotes
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The deepest things that I have learned
in my own life have come from the deepest
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suffering, and out of the deepest waters
and the hottest fires have come the
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deepest things that I know about God.
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And I imagine that most of you
would say exactly the same.
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And I would add this, that the
greatest gifts of my life have also
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entailed the greatest suffering.
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The greatest gifts of my
life, for example, have been
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marriage and motherhood.
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And let's not forget that if we don't
ever want to suffer, we must be very
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careful never to love anything or anybody.
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The gifts of love have been
the gifts of suffering.
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Those two things are inseparable."
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By Elizabeth Elliot, in her book
Suffering is Never for Nothing
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" These four practices, silence and
solitude, Sabbath, simplicity, and
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slowing, have helped me tremendously
to move toward abiding as my baseline.
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But to say it yet again, all four
of them are a means to an end.
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The end isn't silence and solitude.
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It's to come back to
God in our true selves.
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It isn't Sabbath.
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It's a restful, grateful life of ease,
appreciation, wonder, and worship.
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It isn't simplicity.
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It's freedom and focus
on what matters most.
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It isn't even slowing.
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It's to be present, to God,
to people, to the moment.
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And the goal is practice, not perfection.
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Multiple times a day I
slip back into hurry.
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The gravitational pull
is overwhelming at times.
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Lately, when that happens, I
have this little mantra I repeat.
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Slow down, breathe, come back to the
moment, receive the good as gift,
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accept the hard as a pathway to peace.
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Abide.
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By John Mark Comer.
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In his book, The Ruthless
Elimination of Hurry.
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Questions.
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What do you need to let go of?
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Will you surrender your greatest
fear and your greatest pain to God?
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What is God asking you to do or to feel?
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Use these questions as a journal prompt
and to guide your prayers this week.
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End note.
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Seek today to be fully surrendered to God.
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It's the only way to true flourishing.
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Live wisely.
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Josh
