Surrender 

   “Oh Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.” (Surrender Novena) 

   Surrender yourself to Jesus, trust in Him and you will know peace.  However, we must trust in Him to do what is best, not try to restrict Him by our own ideas about how to resolve our problems.  We see little of the overall picture, He sees it all.  Allow Him to determine the best resolution, even if it isn’t quite what you wanted or expected.

   So many times we pray that our will be done.  We offer our petitions to God but try to tell Him what the answer should be.  When we try to solve our problems, God will allow it and very often we will mess it up.  Give it to God and submit to His will and the resolution will be for the best although we may never understand it in this lifetime.

   That doesn’t mean we can’t ask for what we desire.  If we are ill we can pray for healing or relief.  If we are troubled we can ask for peace of heart.  God wants us to ask, He wants us to reach out to Him.  But we must take the attitude of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Yet not my will but yours be done.” (Mark 14: 36).  We must accept God’s will in all things.

   When I look back over my life I see many times when I asked for God’s help but wanted His help to suit my desires rather than His.  It doesn’t work that way.  When I surrender myself to God I have peace within me.  When I place all my trust in Him all things are possible.  His way is always the right way though I may not know it at the time.