We’re back from a week at church camp.  It was a great week with no major problems — except for eight-year-old grandson Jeremiah falling off the climbing rope and spraining his ankle.

And a personal challenge for me.  When we hooked up our eighteen-foot-long trailer (which we dubbed “The Little Tin Box”), the floor was quickly awash in water.  We traced the source to a leak in our fresh water tank.  This was quickly remedied by turning off the water — which meant that we had to do without running water for the week.  This wasn’t too difficult, since the hydrant was nearby.  It was just pesky and inconvenient.

As I lugged in the bucket of “flushing water”  for the bathroom, I thought, “At least at home I have running water.  I may not have a refrigerator and my carpet looks nasty –but I can manage as long as I have water.  I won’t do this long term!”

And the Lord convicted me of that thought.  Do we give God ultimatums?  Should I say, “I’ll be glad to obey You as long as it isn’t too troublesome?”  If God wants me living in a 34 -foot travel trailer (which He does) I should be happy there, no matter what the inconvenience.  Who am I to dictate to God about how He provides for me?

So much of the Christian life is about surrender.  We surrender all to Him in salvation — giving up our “right” to be the god, the one in charge of our lives.  And our walk with Him is one of continually giving up.  It popped up again in my daily Bible reading today: “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (II Cor. 10:5)

The blessing is that God is a good God.  Every time we turn loose of something that has become too important to us, He grants us something better.  In my case, the “something better” than running water was peace.

If we have limits — if we say, “I’ll go this far and no further in following You” — we set ourselves up to worry.  What if I lose this precious thing I own?  What if I have to do something I don’t want to do?  What if…. What if……

The cure for the “what ifs” is surrender. If I have given everything to God, then it is no longer mine to guard and hang onto.  I am free.  I trust Him to give me what I need at the right time.  He can keep my “stuff” for me or remove it.  He is all I really need.

Is anything worrying you today?  There is a way to get rid of the worry and to have freedom.   Bring it to God — and surrender.

Eating to live and living for Christ,
Susan Jordan Brown