Joy in Surrender

While on vacation this summer I read the book "One Thousand Gifts".  I know, I was late in the game to read this very "trendy" book.  I pushed back on it for a long time not wanting to follow the crowd and having some hesitation with what type of theology would fill the pages.  The book sat on my bookshelf for about a year when I finally decided to pick it up.  Although I would say It took me a little bit to get in to it, once I did was hooked.

I can't say I agree 100% with everything the author says, but I do think she has some great thoughts through her journey on how to be able to approach life with Joy.  Out of every page that I read though a quote from someone else hit me the most, " No one has ever said to God, 'Thy will be done,' and meant it with his heart, ever failed to find joy - not just in heaven, or even down the road in the future in this world, but in this world at that very moment" - Peter Kreeft

I think this quote is very powerful, true and describes what I have been learning lately.  Surrender is a daily  battle.  It is hard to tear away from our own ideas and what we think is best and let God be God.  But the thing I am learning as I continue to learn what it means to say "Not my will but your will be done"  is that there is joy in it, like deep real joy.  Joy that you just can't muster up because nothing about the sitation or circumstance is really that joyful.

I have a teacup that sits ony bookshelf that says "joy".  One of my good friends/mentor in college, Frances gave me this teacup with a note when I graduated college.  She talked about the cup that Jesus drank before the cross when He surrendered and said to his Father "Not my will be yours be done".  He did it for the joy set before him.  I remember in her note she told me that there would be many things that would come up in life where I would have the opportunity to decide my own way or let go and to do it for the joy that would come.  She reminded me that it's always worth it,  it's always worth it to surrender to God and to follow his will.

I look at that teacup almost daily and am reminded of this rich truth, that there is joy in surrender.  The thing I am personally learning right now is that when we surrender the Lord blesses us.  Maybe not in tangible blessings like we we want, but in the deep and rich blessing of Himself.  And when we are experiencing the presence of the Lord so closely there is joy....even if life is really hard at times

I know I will continue to struggle to surrender.  It's so hard when we don't understand what the Lord is up to or why He is asking us to do something that we don't really want to do.  Deep down though I know it is where joy is found. And it's worth it to experience that joy, that deep lasting joy that is only found in Jesus.