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	<title>A Voice of HopeSurrender &#8211; A Voice of Hope</title>
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	<description>Made in the image of God</description>
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		<title>Surrender</title>
		<link>https://www.marylueverett.com/2005/09/06/surrender/</link>
		<comments>https://www.marylueverett.com/2005/09/06/surrender/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2005 05:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Following Jesus]]></category>
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				<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s such an odd word, isn&#8217;t it? I mean, just look at it a moment and ponder. It just looks odd. But it&#8217;s the meaning of the word that gets us the most. v., -dered, -der·ing, -ders.v.tr.To relinquish possession or control of to another because of demand or compulsion.To give up in favor of another.To [&#8230;]]]></description>
					<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s such an odd<br />
word, isn&#8217;t it? I mean, just look at it a moment and ponder. It just <em>looks</em> odd. But it&#8217;s the meaning of the word that gets us the most.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>v., -dered, -der·ing, -ders.<br />v.tr.<br />To relinquish possession or control of to another because of demand or compulsion.<br />To give up in favor of another.<br />To give up or give back (something that has been granted): surrender a contractual right.<br />To give up or abandon: surrender all hope.<br />To give over or resign (oneself) to something, as to an emotion: surrendered himself to grief.<br />Law. To restore (an estate, for example), especially to give up (a lease) before expiration of the term.<br />v.intr.<br />To give oneself up, as to an enemy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Surrender. I think that&#8217;s what it all comes down to. </p>
<p>We&#8217;re all broken. We all struggle with what it really means to follow Jesus, to live a &quot;purpose-filled&quot; life and be &quot;on-mission&quot; with God.&nbsp; Most of us secretly fear<br />
that we will somehow miss &quot;it&quot; &#8212; or perhaps have already missed it.</p>
<p>But ultimately, this is a day-t0-day journey.</p>
<p>I think we&#8217;ve taught each other lies. Lies Satan longs for us to believe. Lies that whisper, &quot;you&#8217;re no good. You can&#8217;t even figure out what it is exactly that God put you on this earth for.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;You&#8217;ve missed it. You&#8217;ve missed your purpose, your Divine Moment. And it&#8217;s gone forever.&quot; &quot;Keep struggling. Keep agonizing. Keep focusing on those unrealized dreams. And keep banging your head against that unforgiving Wall of the Unknown. Eventually you&#8217;ll figure out that big secret God keeps hidden behind that wall, the Secret of Your Purpose.&quot; </p>
<p>I have more questions than I have answers. Last week in small group I discovered I wasn&#8217;t alone in this. Pretty much everyone in our group said they didn&#8217;t have a big picture of what their purpose is either.&nbsp; But last Wednesday I finally got it.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve always expected My Purpose to be something big. I always thought that God would eventually pull back a curtain and suddenly I&#8217;d see it, in all it&#8217;s grandeur and glory. My Purpose. My Reason for Being Alive on This Earth. It would be larger than life. It would be all-encompassing. It would be a defined path, a specific task, a Grand Plan.</p>
<p>I worked hard to be faithful in the routine, as Erwin said, so that I could at some point in my life see the radical. And that&#8217;s what I expected my purpose, my reason for being on this earth, to be: Radical. Life-alteringly radical.</p>
<p>What God whispered to me all this week &#8212; and, really, for some time now &#8212; is that it is in the daily, hourly choices that my purpose lies. It&#8217;s in the living in the moment every moment that the reason for my being alive can be found. That my purpose isn&#8217;t a big, Grand Plan kind of deal. It&#8217;s a daily choosing, daily living, daily impacting, daily imprinting kind of deal. It isn&#8217;t found in the Big Reveal. It comes in the Daily Discovery package of Life.</p>
<p>No offense, God, but I think that kinda sucks. Its not nearly as good, as exciting, as grand and cool as <em>my</em> idea of purpose. I want the flash. I want the bang. I want the radical. I don&#8217;t want to just live my life and&#8230; Be.</p>
<p>Yeah, I get that others can still, and hopefully will, see You in me in just the every day stuff of life. But don&#8217;t you think that&#8217;s kinda boring? Man, I really want to have this crazy-ass life! Don&#8217;t you want that for me too?</p>
<p>Do I trust you?! What kinda crazy question is that? Of course, I&#8230; well&#8230;. hmmm&#8230; </p>
<p>I guess I really don&#8217;t. Not in this area. Not yet, anyway.</p>
<p><em>Surrender.</em></p>
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