G.W. Bill Elliott, Jr once noted;
When your graciousness exceeds your patienceness that's mercyness at it's best! Jesus is King of mercy; ask Him for patience to be gracious.
Week:
5
Trust and Surrender
Choosing dependence, surrender, and obedience. This module invites a posture of relinquishment—trading control for trust in God’s wisdom and timing. It addresses common barriers to surrender and provides practices for obedience that flow from love rather than duty. Participants are encouraged to test trust in concrete ways and to reflect on how surrender transforms decision-making.
Objectives
Practice waiting on God’s timing.
Learn to trust God in weakness.
Identify areas of control and practice surrender.
Reflections
What will I surrender this week and how will I remember to do it?
How has surrender changed me before?
Where am I trying to control outcomes that belong to God?
NowTo the HowTo
Accountability/Tracking
Pair with a partner to report weekly on one surrendered action and its outcome.
Community Action
Practice asking for help: each person requests one small, practical favor from the group this week.
Creative Project
Draft a visible “Surrender Pledge” card to place where you’ll see it daily.
Leader Prompt
Share a brief, vulnerable story of a surrendered decision and the fruit it produced.
Personal Practice
Identify one control area and write a short prayer of surrender to repeat each morning.
Devotionals
Wait For It...
In my life, I have been referred to as ' having the patience of Job ', but there was a younger-years time in my life when I wanted ' now ' things to occur. The whole waiting proposition was rarely considered. As our instant gratification society continues it's technological trend, this makes it harder and harder to Wait For It... Waiting on/for His leading is so very tough to do, and discipline plays a key role in your success, your ability, and certainly your growth in the Lord. There's a...
Wandering You
Walking or traveling along a straight line or path is the shortest and most efficient means to travel from Point A to Point B. That's all well and good as long as you are not inside a house or building (trying to get from the kitchen to the bathroom, say), or not in Manhattan (trying to get uptown from the Statue of Liberty). Buildings and objects, natural obstacles, and simple old detours can often make your 'straight and efficient' trip quite a bit longer, quite a bit more frustrating, and...
Wait Gain
No, not weight gain; wait gain. They sound the same, but today's devotional is not about our physical appearance and fitness, but about our spiritual appearance and fitness. See, Ephesians 6:12 states, " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. " All too easily, we fret over our physical lives and toil and struggle through our daily schedules trying so...
Let Them Suffer
We have had occasion to discuss today's devotional a couple times in recent months, so this title may sound familiar... or, it may actually confuse you, too. Letting others suffer seems SO contrary to the message of Jesus, the compassion He has instilled in our hearts, and the reward of hope we have realized... but this is actually one of the underlying messages God conveys to us. Letting others suffer gives God an opportunity to commune directly with them. As an example, Jacob loved his son...
Inadequately Insufficient Deficiency
Three words that help speak volumes for the 'groanings' I struggle over in my life... trying to be acceptable (please keep me around)... trying to be compliant (I can follow rules)... trying to be faultless or blameless (am I doing the right things?). Yet, someone, somewhere, someway construes their viewpoint in such a way as to question integrity, honor, and certainly stature in our lives. Sometimes, it leaves me feeling ashamed, embarrassed, and certainly unworthy to turn to the Lord, to...