The Power of Surrender

I am a couple of days away from having surgery on my right eye. The Doctors will put me to sleep and operate in a delicate procedure to treat a cancerous tumor known as melanoma. When I found out I had a problem with my eye, my first thought was one of denial.... I don't want to deal with this! I just wanted to carry on as usual and go to Nepal as I had planned. I even thought about postponing going to see the Doctor and not tell anyone I had experienced loss of vision. I didn't want to lose any sense of control in my life.
  We all have plans and vision for our lives and seldom does it include pain, disappointment, brokenness and illness. We have been discipled by movies and television with neat plots and happy endings. When we come face to face with imperfection, our first tendency is to turn away..... this is not happening..... is it? No amount of denial can take away the reality that we live in an imperfect world and that the illusion of control needs to be confronted and addressed.
  Let me say this plainly, you are not GOD. The world does not revolve around you! The purpose of life is not for you to live comfortably and experience unending pleasure. That stark fact is not meant to discourage you...it's meant to orient you to the real God who created you, shaped you and formed you for his pleasure and purpose in the world. When we yield control to the God of love we experience a power far beyond our understanding. Our destiny and our dreams are not meant to be separated from a willful surrender to God in relationship. Do you begin your days with a plan or a conversation? When you pull yourself out of bed do you consult your calendar or your creator? I had a plan for the fall of 2011. Nothing wrong with planning I assure you. We need to think ahead and plan our tomorrows. But in all our planning and thinking we need to remember the importance of yielding full control of our lives to the God who transcends time and place. There is a plan and a purpose to our lives. That plan is meant to be born out of places of connection and intimacy with a real God of love. For many of us prayer is less about intimacy and surrender than control and manipulation. We want God to do what we want.... or else we forsake him and abandon the relationship. We have affairs with those we can control and manipulate for our own selfish ends. It's not real intimacy but at least we think we are in control...it's a lie.
  Tomorrow morning Mary and I will drive to Birmingham. My heartfelt prayer is that I will continue to yield my heart and my life to God in full surrender. I have been prayed for and loved in so many powerful and meaningful ways over the last several weeks. I want you to know that those prayers are worth so much to me and my family. The love that is transmitted to others as you hold them before God is the most powerful form of communication possible by people. I don't know what the future holds exactly... but I am ok with that. I know who holds the future and I know he has nothing but plans of love for my life. I am lifting my hands and heart in renewed surrender. I am weak but he is strong. I am in need but he has all I could possibly ever need. I have a Father who will never leave me, never forsake me. I am choosing to remain fully surrendered to the God of love. Will you join me?

Jim