Survive, thrive, surrender

Do you ever feel like fatigue and a shift in priorities can cause a you to regress back to mindsets you haven’t had in a long time? When I got on the scale last Tuesday and was up four pounds, I felt totally deflated. I decided I wouldn’t let that number have control over how I felt that  ​

day – even though I was tempted to. To put it in perspective, I was eating healthy, exercising, taking care of my heart, creating a healthy environment for optimal health and for increased sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I hadn’t paid attention to the scale in so long. I was going by how my pants felt and I was feeling over all. I’m so grateful for the awesome women God has surrounded me with, that reminded me my mindset is just as important as anything else in all of this.

​God sees us and He sees beauty. We are more than a number on a scale or a pant size. We are unique and number one in His eyes so remember that and embrace it. Stand up to the enemy who wants to squelch progress. Believe what God says about you!

As I was thinking about surviving and thriving, the word surrender kept coming up. I kept saying, “God, stay on topic, we are talking about Surviving to Thriving, not surrender!” Then it was like He said, “Surrender is what transforms a life from simply surviving, to thriving in their walk with Christ and successfully moving towards the mark (or goals) He sets before them.” Wow.

​​Isn’t it so easy to settle into survival mode? Think about the children of Israel. When God told them they were going to be brought into the Promised Land they got so caught up in their difficult circumstances instead of believing that God would lead them to where He was calling them to go. Don’t we all do that? We get so focused on our circumstances and lose sight of the Promised Land that is right in front of us. Even when the twelve spies were sent to scope out 

the land they came back and were focused on the giants that stood in the way instead of the promise God had given them. They ended up spending years in the wilderness –trying to survive, instead of thriving in the Promised Land because they didn’t believe what God had told them.

In order to go from surviving to thriving there is a surrender. We have to surrender control. We have to surrender unbelief. We have to surrender our doubts and our fears and our expectations. When God puts a goal on our hearts - He is promising to bring us there. We need to believe that He is going to take us to where He is calling us to go and we need to take our hands off the wheel so that God can lead.

Going back to the children of Israel, Joshua and Caleb did end up making it to the Promised Land. The Bible says that Caleb had a different spirit about him and that he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. Maybe that’s part of what it is for us. Are we willing to follow God wholeheartedly? This is where we can ask God to search us. Are there things in our devotional time with Him that we can surrender to make us fully available to His presence and His Spirit? What about nutrition? Are we willing to let go of things that are not good for our bodies or sustained health and wellness? Areas in our physical fitness life?

In Mark 9:24 a father who had brought his sick child to Jesus for healing tells Jesus, “I believe, help me in my unbelief.” We need God to increase our belief – our faith in Him – that He will help us do what he is calling us to do and simply surrender.

Please let me know if this post resonated with where you are. I love hearing from you and I would love to join you in prayer. Take care and God Bless!