There are so many delicate lines in recovery. Many things appear to be healthy and freeing—even necessary—but just a few steps away, on the other side of the imaginary line, they turn harmful and burdensome. Just a little too much of a good thing can actually be very damaging.
Effort, itself, has one of these lines. Often we’re told we need to “try harder”; “work on our own stuff”, “make the right choices.” But other times we’re told we just need to surrender. It seems like double talk and is just another one of those conundrums that make the whole healing process extremely confusing.
Which is it? Should you be working harder, or should you be giving up and surrendering? Which road will, ultimately, take you to freedom?
To find the answer we need to look at exactly what surrender is in this context. Does it mean just sitting back and doing nothing? Is it the opposite of taking action? Not at all. Surrender means “to relinquish possession or control of to another.” It doesn’t mean there aren’t still things to do. It just changes who’s in charge of determining what those things are.
When we abandon our own best efforts, surrender to God, and allow him to direct our steps, we find ourselves on a progressive road to freedom. It’s hard at first. It’s never easy to give up control. We’re often not even sure that anyone—especially God—can be trusted to lead us out of this mess we’re in. It takes risk. It takes feeling the fear and doing it anyway. But, if we are persistent, our surrendering will bring us to places that our own efforts never could.
“This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” —Isaiah 48:17
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