The Last Thing to Surrender

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What Happens When You Finally Let Go

I’ve given up a lot of things in my life—career opportunities, comfort, a clean house (hello, motherhood), and even the illusion of control over how I thought my life should look. I’ve said yes to adoption, to foster care, to ministry in messy places, to caregiving, to loving kids through trauma, to sitting beside a hospice bed while praying for peace.

And through all of it, I thought I’d surrendered.

I was doing the things.
Serving the people.
Obeying the call.

But if I’m honest, for a long time I was still holding back the final thing: me.

The Hidden Corners of Our Hearts

You know what I mean, right? We can live loud for Jesus and still keep little corners of our hearts quiet and closed. We’ll say, “Yes, Lord, I’ll go where You send me… but please don’t ask for that part.”

The vulnerable part.
The tender dream we’re scared to speak out loud.
The image we’ve worked hard to protect.
The pain we’ve never wanted to relive.

We give Him our schedules, our budgets, even our platforms—but not always our selves. Not the real us. Not the messy, doubting, overwhelmed, weary, wondering parts of us. The places that feel too tangled or too fragile. But then comes that holy moment—sometimes quiet and still, sometimes loud and desperate—when He whispers: “That last thing… will you give it to Me?”

And it undoes us.
But it also remakes us.

Surrender That Awakens

C.T. Studd, a wealthy British missionary, walked away from a life of privilege and gave everything for the gospel. E. Stanley Jones, a revivalist, found his true power in Christ not when he started doing more—but when he gave up control and let Jesus lead everything. “Then,” the missionary said, “the full resources of Jesus became available to him.”

That’s what surrender does.
It doesn’t weaken us.
It awakens us.

My Breaking Point

I remember a season that felt like drowning in slow motion. I had deadlines pressing down on my shoulders, three teens navigating their own emotional storms, and the deep weight of caring for my 90-something-year-old grandma full time. I was doing all the right things. And yet, I was falling apart.

One morning, I stood at my kitchen counter, stirring oatmeal while trying not to cry in front of my kids. My soul felt brittle. My body exhausted. My spirit empty. I whispered, “God, I don’t know how to keep going.”

And that’s when I finally said it: “Take it. Take me. I can’t do this without You.” That surrender didn’t change my circumstances overnight. But it changed me.

I stopped striving and started abiding. I let go of the fear that I had to hold it all together. And in its place came peace I couldn’t explain, and strength I didn’t manufacture.

The Last Thing… and the First Step

Maybe you’re in that place now. Doing all the right things. But still holding your breath. Still holding back. Friend, you can serve Jesus and still not surrender to Him.

But when you do—when you offer Him that last hidden piece—you’ll find something astonishing: You aren’t losing yourself. You’re finding who you were always meant to be.

You’ll find the resources of heaven showing up in your messy kitchen. You’ll find joy when the laundry piles up and peace when the plan changes again. You’ll feel God near, not just when you’re singing at church, but when you’re weeping in the bathroom or whispering prayers in the carpool line. That’s the power of full surrender.

What’s Your “Last Thing”?

Is it control? Fear of what others will think? An unspoken dream? A wound still tender from long ago?

Whatever it is, He already knows. And He can be trusted with it.

So today, don’t just give Him your plans. Give Him you.

Not the polished version. The real one.

The one He knit together in your mother’s womb. The one He calls His masterpiece. The one He died to redeem and lives to empower.

The final surrender isn’t the loss of yourself. It’s the finding of your truest self in Jesus.

Reflection Questions:

1. What part of yourself are you still holding back from God?
   
2. What would full surrender look like in your season of life?
   
3. How can you practice abiding instead of striving today?
   

“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” —Matthew 10:39

Additional Resources

Journal Through the Bible in 2025

Have you ever wanted to read through the Bible but found yourself giving up? Or even worse, you read the chapters and at the end question how they apply to your life. Tricia Goyer understands. For years she felt frustrated that she couldn’t stick to her commitment to read God’s Word all the way through. Things changed when she found a doable plan and wrote out a daily prayer. Tricia’s heart changed. Her life did, too.

God can bring real transformation into your heart and life when you daily commit to reading your Bible and praying through God’s Word. Praying through the Bible in One Year offers a guided reading plan and a daily prayer starter to help you make God’s Word applicable to your life. Discover the inspiration for real-life transformation.

Purchase a copy of Praying Through the Bible in One Year HERE.