He's worth the surrender}}

 

Well hello there ladies! I wanted to share something with you that has been on my heart A LOT recently. My prayer is that it would encourage you right where you're at.. Whether you are content in the season that God has you in. Maybe you are in a relationship with a special fella, or you find yourself alone with not having ever been in a relationship or ever having an opportunity to be in one.

Wherever you are, right here, right now, I pray this post encourages something in your soul.  The Lord has a message for you. He want's to encourage you. He sees every dream and every desire. That longing to be married and be treasured by a man someday that loves Jesus, or that one dream to become a writer, or a motivational speaker to this dying world, whatever it is,  he understands. He put that desire in your heart <3  Every beautiful and perfect gift comes from him. And most of the time when we can so clearly see His beautiful hand in an event that has happened in our lives, or a dream that miraculously unfolds like a beautiful and rare Christmas present, it makes us stand in awe of HIM.. because it allows us to see how God so clearly blessed us or moved in that particular way. I love looking at a situation and saying, ''Wow Jesus, you are so so so good... I know it was you who did that''.   You see dear sisters, He didn't put dreams in our hearts to tease us. He doesn't close doors or say no to certain things because He's mean. He does those things because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. He is our Abba Father, He knows us better than anyone ever will.  His job is {directing} and {guiding}, and our job is {following} and {surrendering}.  Let's say your biggest dream is about to come true, it truly is EVERYTHING you have ever wanted.. It's what the rhythm of your heart beats for.  But God isn't in that dream. He has in fact told you ''wait'' or ''not yet''... but you in your own humanly efforts made it happen. I'm sure we can all think of characters in the bible who could relate to that. But once you get your way, it loses it's beauty. It's suddenly not filling you up in the way you need it to. That's because God is created to be at the very center of every one of those dreams. He's created to be the orchestrator, and He never handed that job off to you. If He does not continue to be at the very center, then things lose their purpose, beauty, passion, and drive. It loses God's heavenly touch.  Sometimes He allows us to run to fulfill our own desires, only until He let's us gently fall and stumble to see how how we need Him as our author. Only He can be the orchestrator of it.  He breaths passion, drive, and Joy into our hearts. Without Him nothing is fulfilled, and we lose our purpose.

My point is simply this....  whatever dreams that are burning in your heart, you can trust that God will fulfill them if they are truly from Him. But you first must learn that God is far more valuable then any dream will ever will be. He's worth the surrender.  He must be your first and highest priority. He must become your greatest passion. This dream burning inside your soul is a gift, and you must continually give it back to the giver.  His gifts are meant to be used to further His glory and his kingdom.

Psalms 37:4
'Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart''.

What this verse is saying is that if we delight ourselves in Jesus.. If he truly does become our all in all, then we will naturally desire for the things {HE} desires.. Our hearts desire will truly be to  glorify him and follow His will in our lives.  We naturally take that verse to a place of self focus and think, ''If I am happy in Jesus, then He will give ME what I deserve and give ME everything I desire!''

That's just it. We don't deserve anything. We deserve to die in hell for all eternity and it was by His 
grace that He saved us and plucked us from evil and sin. How humbling is that? YET He chooses
to bestow gifts of Grace, Mercy, Love, Compassion on us every second of every day.

He deserves every gift and dream returned to Him, held in surrendered palms extending towards heaven. He deserves the gift of a surrendered heart, no matter how weak or afraid we may be, He deserves it. And he will gladly take it.
Because these gifts and dreams were never ours to begin with.

Every good and perfect thing is truly a gift from Him. It's to leave us in Awe of who He truly us.   Having dreams and desires isn't bad sweet one, it's very good! but only when it's brought under the control of Christ can it truly bring honor to Him. The type of honor and glory we were made to give Him. We must hold every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

You see that first picture at the top?? that's my purity ring. The ring that has confused little kids into thinking I'm married, the ring I've nearly lost twice and the same ring that has been run over by a car. Well this ring of mine, it's a treasure to me. Do you know why?? Because it represents that I am taking a stand to save myself for my future husband. I may never get married, but if I do,  I hope to someday give it to him. This ring represents a dream, a hope, but it does not belong to me.

And in that second picture? That's me wearing my grandmothers wedding dress.. It's beautifully lacey from the 1950's and I hope to someday wear it on my wedding day. But if that wedding never happens, he's still good. That dream belongs to him.

This last picture represents how I would love to become a mommy someday <3 But you know what I learned? I'm not guaranteed this gift. It's not something that God owes me. I most certainly don't deserve it.
All of these dreams are beautiful, but it loses it's beauty if I so desperately clutch my fists around it and I'm not surrendering it or releasing it. If it becomes my end goal, my focus, and my priority higher than God himself, than that is when I place an idol above my Jesus. It is only when I give it back in complete surrender, knowing it's nothing that I deserve, yet when/if He returns the gift than it allows you to see His goodness more clearly. He becomes the focus.. And the unfolding of His plans become all the more beautiful and lovely because of that.. He is the author and perfector of our faith. He put the stars into place. He is the same God that knows every hair on our head and knows every pain in our hearts.

When Jesus Christ captivates our souls more than any earthly dream, then He becomes enough. Everything else is just extra, if not to further His glory and kingdom. And if not for those specific reasons, than it is to simply bless us and to show us His love for us.


Sweet sister, your prayers and dreams do not go unnoticed. And as scary as it is not being in control, if you give God the pen to writing your story, you can be guaranteed that it will be more beautiful than you could ever imagine.  He knows you better than even you know yourself.

Sincerely, Rosie....