Humble Surrender

Dear Sisters,

Dear GEMS Counselors,

We are gearing up for the Fall Workshops this coming week! Hopefully you are eager to join together to encourage eachother, learn together, and be equiped for the GEMS year ahead.

In the midst of Fall workshop and club preparations, this week’s prayer comes from Psalm 145 (personalized!) . . .

Great are You LORD and most worthy of praise; Your greatness no one can fathom. One generation of Titus 2 women will commend Your works to another generation of girls and women, they will tell of Your mighty acts. They will speak at Fall Workshops, at Clubs, and within their churches and homes of the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and they will meditate on Your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of Your awesome works, and will proclaim Your great deeds. They will celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of Your righteousness! For Jesus’ sake, Amen (Psalm 145:3-7).

Have a wonderful week telling others about your love for our great and wonderful God!


Let’s turn to the Word together.



HUMBLE SURRENDER



Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

1 Peter 5:6

One of my favorite parts of this summer’s family vacation at a rented cabin was my quiet times on the porch facing the lake. As I was reflecting on the book of 1 Peter, I could hear my neighbors sitting on the dock shouting to one another . . .

“Look! It’s an eagle!” “Look! Another eagle, and it’s carrying a fish!”

The beautiful scene captivated our attention until the eagles squabbled over the fish directly over my back porch. Suddenly the fish went bouncing through the tree overhead like a metal ball making its way through a pinball machine.

Splat! The fish landed on my porch. The eagles soared away. And the neighbors and I replayed the beautiful, yet bizarre scene of two eagles and one “flying” fish.


“That’ll happen when pigs fly,” you may have heard a time or two. Living on a hog farm I can tell you that pigs stink and they squeal, but those heavy animals don’t fly. So “when pigs fly” refers to a time that will never come. At least that’s what the skeptics say.

How many of us are just as skeptical of God’s command to not worry as we are of flying fish and pigs? We read His commands to not be anxious and to not worry, but maybe we wonder if ridding our lives of worry can really be a reality in this stress-filled world.

When worries fly into our lives, we have a choice to make. We can let them take up paralyzing residence in our hearts and minds, or we can choose to humbly surrender them to God. Will you make the choice?

Choose to humble yourself. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (1 Peter 5:6). Yield yourself to His authority and will, commit the situation to Him and His control, and be willing to follow Him. When we humbly surrender our plans for His, He will lift us up and provide exactly what is needed in His time.

Choose to pray. During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission (Hebrews 5:7). Follow Jesus’ example, and bow down to God’s will in prayer.

Prayer Step: What worries do you have today? Will you make the choice to humbly surrender to His will in prayer?



If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all that He requires of you.

Oswald Chambers


Grace and peace,


Lenae