Surrender is a word that is used a lot in 12-step meetings. They talk about surrendering our lives and wills to God in Step 3, for example. Here’s an analogy that has helped me to understand how surrender works. It has a lot to do with admitting the truth about my situation and letting someone who really knows what they’re doing be in charge.
The analogy is actually a true story that happened to me a few years ago. One of my young children came to me with a shoelace tied around her waist asking me to help her undo it. I told her I would help. I started to loosen the knot. She decided she would try to “help” me by pulling as hard as she could on the loose ends of the shoelace. This of course just tightened the knot. I said to her without even thinking about it, “You’re going to have to let go so I can undo this.” She let go. I untied the knot. She walked away, free and happy.
This is how I see surrender. I must approach God, admit to Him that I’ve done all I can, and humbly ask Him to help me undo the knot, then I must let go of it and let Him undo it. And He does. I had never trusted Him enough to undo my problems before. I was too ashamed to even approach Him, though with all my praying, pride, shame, and denial, I thought I was approaching Him. Now with the help of the steps and the people in the group meetings, I can stand before Him and ask with confidence, knowing that He can and will help me – if I just “let go and let God.”
See more about the different ways that I surrender in the Step 3 article.
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