Will You Surrender Your Writing to God?

by Lucinda Secrest McDowell @LucindaSMcDowel

Sitting on the floor of the attic after discovering this little ceramic plaque, I realized anew how letting go must be one of the hardest choices ever made.

On the front was a Dutch prayer, with the English translation carefully written on the back by a young Dutch mother who had made her home in the United States. 

Father, I lay the names of my children in Your hands. 

… I do not ask You to spare my children every sorrow, 

But be their comfort when they are lonely and afraid. 

For your Name’s sake keep them in your covenant. 

Let them never stray from You, Never as long as life shall last! 

I lay the names of my children in Your hands. Amen.  

I know from the inscribed date, that shortly after writing this, Inka was diagnosed with cancer from which she soon died. Leaving her husband and three small children, the youngest only a year old.

Surrender indeed—wanting what God wants more than what we want. 

As Oswald Chambers suggests, “As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world.”

True surrender is freely choosing to let go—knowing all is in God’s capable hands.

Will you surrender all your writing and speaking to God today? “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”Luke 22.42 ESV

Almost forty years ago that young Dutch mother opened her hands and laid her children in God’s larger ones. Soon this symbolic act became a literal one, when she died too young from cancer. But God was faithful. One day he placed those same children into the hands of another young woman who had surrendered her long desire to be a mother. 

Me. 

Perhaps one of the greatest grace gifts I have ever received is the privilege of adopting Inka’s children and raising them to adulthood where they continue to know God’s great care and enjoy full lives of service and surrender.

Long ago when I was in my thirties and wondering if I would ever be a wife and mama, I realized that as an act of consecration, I needed to release my own “toys” - my vision of what I thought would make me happy. 

Perhaps you think publishing a book will make you happy. Landing an arena speaking gig. Why not surrender those dreams today to the God who knows you best and loves you most; using A.W. Tozer’s classic prayer:

“Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding… I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it.. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

            

What you receive may be beyond your wildest dreams. 

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Thoughts on the blessings of releasing our dreams back to God - from @LucindaSMcDowel on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Lucinda Secrest McDowell, M.T.S., is a storyteller and seasoned mentor who engages both heart and mind while “Helping you Choose a Life of Serenity & Strength.” A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Furman University, McDowell is the author of 13 books and contributing author to 30+ books. Her books include the award-winning Dwelling Places (2017 Christian Retailing BEST Award for Devotional), Ordinary Graces  (2018 Selah Finalist), Live These Words, and Refresh! Lucinda, a member of the Redbud Writers Guild, received Mt. Hermon “Writer of the Year” award and guest blogs for The Write Conversation, Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference Blog and (in)courage. Whether co-directing  “reNEW ~ retreat for New England Writing,”  pouring into young mamas, or leading a restorative day of prayer, she is energized by investing in people of all ages. Lucinda’s favorites include tea parties, good books, laughing friends, ancient prayers, country music, cozy quilts, musical theatre, and especially her family scattered around the world doing amazing things.  Known for her ability to convey deep truth in practical and winsome ways, she writes from “Sunnyside” cottage in New England and blogs weekly at http://www.EncouragingWords.net/ 
Follow Lucinda on Twitter: @LucindaSMcDowel