Not ready to waive your white flag and surrender to the enemy? Surrendering is not easy for anyone. But when asked why it’s so difficult; the real challenge is discovering who we think we are surrendering to. Knowing who we are fighting makes all the difference in the world. This requires looking twice as hard at who we think the enemy is when we are grieving loss in life and love.
Working with nothing
Losing something or someone, is usually not what we choose to happen. But when it does happen, what do we do? When grief strikes, how do we control not losing it all in the process? Most would say… by never giving up… never surrendering.
I was recently talking to a close friend about her losses in life. There were several things that hit her hard in her younger years; the world can be cruel, after all. However nothing she struggled with before compared to the most recent blows she took when losing her father. It was just over two years ago when his death, and the grief from it, took and unexpected and unhealthy toll on her life.
She is a daddy’s girl to the core…. always has been and always will be. Everything she always celebrated and suffered was with him by her side. She definitely had her share of both, but the hard times were always when she needed an anchor the most, and that is what her Dad was for her. He was her listening ear through the teenage years and her shoulder to lean on through much more. Most of all, he just wanted her to be happy and healthy and he was good at reminding her of it. He was everything she always needed when nothing was working.
Working for nothing
The devastation of losing her father was enough to bear on its own. Then, that same night, she got the news that her pastor, the other one that had remained by her side fighting for her and encouraging her all along her way, was leaving too. He was going into the mission field to plant a church in another country, which was something she knew she should be happy about, but she wasn’t. To top it all off she was struggling with her health. She seemed to be headed on a downward spiral and all she wanted was to feel better. All that came to the surface and the tip of her tongue was “Why now? Why me? What now….. God?” Hearing her many questions led me to a few of my own.
So I am asking…What do you do when it seems as though all is lost in life and love and you have nothing to work for or with? Have you ever been there? Are you at a point now, where everything that once made you right seems to be going wrong? Whether you’ve been there or are there…. what happens next? Chances are you’d rather die than surrender.
I am passing you the plate to give you something to chew on. I am not interested in feeding suicidal tendencies here. I am wanting to take a look at what’s really eating us when the thought of surrendering is on the table.
As for my friend who was losing it all… There is more to come about her battle within, the God of second chances and what he had in store for her and what he has for you too my friend… this is not the end, it’s just the beginning of a fruitful fight about the need for surrendering. I hope to see you back for the second round tomorrow.
My whole plate 