Hello friends, how are you doing? Fall has certainly made an entrance in my neck of the woods. Let’s refer to fall as ‘he’. I know fall is usually the prettiest of the seasons, but just remember, most of the male species are quite beautiful, especially the male birds. See my line of reasoning; we know winter is female, therefore fall has to be a male.

Anyway…hints of colors are appearing here and there among the trees. The squirrels are in a frenzy. The quarrels among them are becoming quite loud and obnoxious; I think theft may have been committed among them. The last of the cicadas can still be heard in the distance, a bit faint but still there. And I woke up to a chilly 48° this morning. Even the sun rises later and later each morning, although this officially is the last week of summer. In spite of the fact that I hate to see summer and its sunshine along with the heat leave, the cycle of life must adhere to its built-in commands. What do you think, is fall a ‘he’?

Surrender… such a scary word, right? Surrender invokes the idea of powerlessness. Surrender is usually done against the will; very few people willingly choose to surrender. History informs us, that most times when people surrender it is usually because they have the tried every other recourse and the outcome remains the same. During wartime, when one surrenders, shame due to the lack of success follows them; guilt because of the failure remains with them and sometimes even death awaits them. Surrender; to relent; to defer; to submit to someone’s authority.

Undeniably, I am a control freak. I think most women are, but I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle with submission. I struggle! But I’ve walked with the Lord awhile, better yet, the Lord has walked with me for awhile now. And fortunately, my surrender is what He desires. Fortunately, you say? Yes, yes, fortunately for me and for the benefit of those around me, He desires that I surrender to Him. Here’s why:

POWER is mine when I surrender to God. It’s like an inner strength,

FREEDOM is to be had when I surrender to the Lord of the Universe.

BEAUTIFUL am I when I surrender to the Creator.

LIFE can be lived abundantly when I surrender

Unexplainable JOY can be found when I surrender.

Although I know that these are mine, when I surrender, sometimes I fail. Sometimes I compare my surrender to a loving and Kind God to that of unkind and cruel man. Sometimes I don’t believe in His goodness and His love.

Sometimes I think my way is better and definitely easier. I must remember that my enemy needs me to compare and find my God lacking in some way, because then he controls my actions.

Here are a few other posts about surrender; Surrender without Responsibility? and To submit or not to submit?
Surrender isn’t easy, surrender is intentional, surrender is voluntary. Today, I choose to surrender. Today I choose to believe in the kindness and goodness of the Creator God, therefore I choose to submit to His authority. Today, I choose to surrender to the God of the Universe. How about you?

Let’s continue the conversation over on Instagram. Follow my Instagram and I will follow back, just let me know in the comment section. I would love to meet you 🙂

49 responses to “I DON’T WANT TO, BUT I HAVE TO…”
Brenda: Thanks for liking my blog. It sounds like we’ve grappled with some of the same realities. I like your photos too. —The Owl
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🙂 Praise the Lord, to Him be all the glory 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to comment. May the Lord bless you
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Love this! And I am a control freak too!!
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🙂 🙂 🙂 I am certainly in that boat with you 🙂 It’s so hard to hand over the reins, BUT GOD… together we will trust Him and believe in His promises 🙂 God bless you, my friend
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Ephesians 5:22 has always been a verse that I struggle to understand. Mainly because it gives me the impression that women are lesser than men and is often used this way. How do you typically interpret that verse?
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Actually submission and ‘less than’ are so very far apart. Submission is always a choice, I willingly lay down my right to be right and trust God with my obedience to His Word. Submission involves trusting God with the decisions. Remember Jesus, who was 100% God, equal the bible tells us to God, still submitted to His Father. I will write a post or this response will too long 🙂 🙂 God bless you, my friend.
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I look forward to reading it (:
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Shara- at a men’s conference this past spring a Pastor explained some things about women I never knew or even thought about.
One thing is this: Women (the ‘wife’ if you will) wield power over the man. If one needs some examples, just read/watch/listen to the news or study the trajectory of a sampling of male politicians. Enough said there.
Since the woman holds the position of power in the husband/wife dynamic, God in His wisdom instructs her to ‘submit’ to her husband’s vulnerable & challenged position.
When you think about it, the verse is not in any way demeaning, rather commending of the wife’s (woman’s) position of power.
Hope this makes sense to you.
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sorry for the late response, I was absent last week 😐 😐 and amen and amen 🙏🏽 being submissive is never demeaning in any way, it is honorable role and the Lord has called us to this as wives and there is beauty in obedience
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Wow, actually that makes way more sense. It’s basically advising us to not take the influence we have to rule over but support and have heart.
Thank you so much for helping clarify this verse. I had never thought of it that way before.
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Thanks for the beautiful and apt post, Brenda. May God bless you and thanks for the like.
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praise the Lord, to our great God be all the glory 🙂 🙂 you are so very welcome. May the Lord bless you
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Ahhh yes!!! Surrender, once I finally choose to comply, makes me feel so much closer to Him!!!❤️ great post Brenda!
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amen 🙂 I love the way you said that: “once I choose to comply…” Surrender is good for us 🙂
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Surrendering our will to HIS Will is living the best life!
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Amen 🙂 That’s the best life!!! God bless you, my friend
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Yes it is! Yes it is! 🙂 blessings to you!
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thank you 🙂
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[…] I DON’T WANT TO, BUT I HAVE TO… […]
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Such a wonderful post! Surrender….a simply word and yet at times it can be so hard to do. May His will be done in my life🙏🏻🙌🏻
Loved your pictures, you are to stinkin cute😍 You had me giggling out loud at your description of the squirrels and theft being involved 😂😂😂
God bless you sweetie! Love your heart 💗😇
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Thank you 😊 so much 😂😂 the Lord has been very good to me. I’m convinced the squirrels are stealing from each other 😂😂 surrender is truly a work in progress, praise the Lord for His faithfulness
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I just taught Bible Study on Ephesians 5:21-33. Submission used to be extremely hard for me and God has really done a work in me. I am human so I am not 100% right but I have come a long way. I am not ready for fall but I am going to get ready. We have four seasons for a reason.
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🙂 🙂 thankfully winter isn’t before fall 🙂 🙂 gives us more time to prepare 🙂 I thank the Lord for grace and repentance 🙂 Submission is daily attitude, certainly can’t be one time; we are prone to forget 🙂 🙂
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Amen!
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When we surrender our lives to Christ, it leads to victory. Because we finally come to the end of ourselves and are made new in Him. Even so, it’s a daily process to learn to surrender every part of our lives.
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amen 🙂 great comment 🙂 Surrender isn’t a one-time thing; It is daily sometimes several times a day
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Thanks Brenda! 🤗
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I enjoyed reading your post. I agree that surrender is necessary. I’ve learned thus far that complete surrender requires a certain level of trust in God. We have to trust him completely with our lives and our circumstances and that scary, right!? But I’m also learning that God has my best interest in mind and that’s what’s helping me to surrender to his will and not my own. Thanks for sharing your insight.
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Amen 🙂 That’s the key to surrender; realizing and believing in the goodness of God. That right there is not always easy to believe that someone other than ‘me’ has my best interest at heart
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Surrender to the Lord is our victory wrapped in His victory.
And, yes, I think fall is a “he” given that we men are the most prone to slam our thumbs with a hammer — over and over. I mourn the end of summer every year. Sorry, I don’t have Instagram.
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Thanks for this comment 🙂 🙂 love the comment about fall:) I do think fall is ‘he’ 🙂 🙂 Isn’t that unusual the way the Lord does? He gives victory when we surrender; that’s great
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Thank you Brenda for sharing your struggle. I am in the process of writing a post on this topic of submitting to God, especially our anxious and angry thoughts about things we cannot control. God is taking me through some tough times and I have to learn to submit to Him or I am unwittingly surrendering to the devil. Resisting the devil describes a struggle, and struggling is okay. I love to read other peoples perspectives.
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I can’t wait to read your post, Joyce, Its always fascinating to read post along the same theme, because the Lord reveals different aspects to the same topic. He does that so very well.
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Amen! Yes to submission in an age where it is considered being weak.
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I know right?! Which is too bad because that’s the best thing we can do for ourselves. Surrender brings growth and draws us closer to God Himself
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You are right. God help us!🙏
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Amen 🙏🏽
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Wonderful words . The paradox of surrendering in order to be free! We are studying Joshua in community Bible Study and I love how God steps in and shows his power to rescue when Joshua is obedient .
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I know 🙂 Surrender brings freedom and liberty, which God gives freely. Surrender definitely signifies obedience. God bless you, my friend.
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Good ones, Brenda! In all your posts (I read the links, too), you have a wonderful way of presenting God’s Word and sharing how joyful (and right) it is to obey Him!
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Praise the Lord, to Him be all the glory 🙂 Great and merciful is our Lord. Surely He is good and growth is ours only when true surrender is what we do
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Surrender – a sometimes hard but always beautiful thing to do when done biblically. laurensparks.net
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Thank you for the visit, my friend. Surrender is surely very difficult, but it truly brings us closer to the Lord
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Beautiful Blog Post. I love Fall so I think Fall is feminine and I tend to think winter is masculine. Fall with it’s coolness in the morning and warmth in the day, glorious colors, and the falling away of the leaves is like shedding all of the year’s woes. It’s a slowing down and meditative.
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I love the way you see aspects of fall as feminine and winter as male 🙂 🙂 love it I love fall and I can’t wait for the colors that come with this season “) God bless you, my friend
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Amen Brenda! Full surrender to our Savior! 🍁🤗
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Yes!!! that the best things we can do, full surrender, withholding nothing. Thank you Vivian and may the Lord of the Universe bless you
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Amen Brenda! May His will be done in all things! God bless!
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praise the Lord, Ryan. To Him be all the glory and indeed His precious will be done
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