"I surrender" doesn't have a very good connotation. I think of being defeated, overpowered, conquered. In the world, it means "I give up. You win." In the spiritual sense, however, I believe it takes a lot of strength to surrender. Even though I'd like to hold on to the familiar, it sometimes takes a lot of work and energy to hold on and do things the way they've always been done and be the way I've always been. It takes much greater courage and trust to let that all go and surrender to a new way of being. To give up familiar ways and surrender to God's way.

I'm not a person who gives up control easily. I like being in charge. However, I can't surrender in the worldly sense; I have to surrender in the spiritual sense - to give up my own will and desires and embrace fully God's will.

Jesus surrendered to God's will and it led him to the cross. The story didn't stop there, however. There's a resurrection - resurrection to new life if we are first willing to surrender and embrace change and the unknown, trusting in God's steadfast and unconditional love. Surrendering, no doubt, will lead me places I'd rather not go. It may cause me to change or do things I'd rather not do. But it won't end there. When I surrender, I am opening myself up to new life.