Wholly Surrendered

by Jennie Smith
Secondary Assistant Principal

Happy New Year!  It's 2013 and many are making their New Year's resolutions today.  Some decide on one word to focus on for the year. Others resolve never to make resolutions.  As a teacher, my life is full of setting goals and objectives.  Goals are what you hope to accomplish; objectives are the way to get there.  I love to set a goal for the new year.  While resolutions are designed to be broken, goals are designed to be met.

I've been pondering my goal for this year and God has impressed upon my heart that my goal should be:  wholly surrendered. I desire to live this year in complete surrender to what God wants for me.  I have begun searching His word for the way to get there - and while there many, many verses in Scripture that show us the way to a life a surrender, I have been most impacted by Psalm 143.

In verse 1, it tells us how to begin.  "O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy."  Isn't that the way to begin any endeavor?  First, beseech Him for His help - it is only through Him that we can meet any goal.

"I remember the days of long ago;  I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done" (verse 4).  If I'm going to surrender to someone, I need to trust them.  When I look back at what God has done over the years, I gain confidence and remember that He is real, alive, and active even in the small events.

One of the most important works to remember is what was accomplished at the cross. Jeremy Riddle's song "Sweetly Broken" responds to the event of the cross in this way:  

"At the cross you beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees
And I am lost for words, so lost in love
I'm sweetly broken, wholly surrendered".

Verse 5 of Psalm 143 says:  "I spread out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land."   Whenever I'm thirsty for the Lord, I worship.  I love Pandora and I turn on my praise and worship channel and just sing to the Lord.  He meets me there.  I know a life of surrender is not easy, so worship is going to become one of my objectives - it will be an important key to accomplishing my goal.

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,  for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (verse 8).  Living a life a surrender is going to require the Lord to show me the way.   He will be directing my path; I must relinquish control, so I certainly need to be tuned into what He would say.  Daily Bible reading and increased Bible study are important objectives to meeting my goal of full surrender to the Lord
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As the new year begins, verse 10 is my prayer:  "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."  On this January 1, 2013, what goals might you be setting?  What is God calling you to this new year?  Would you be willing to  share ideas below - it may really encourage someone else!  May 2013 be a year in which we all live a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, and growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10).