I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open!

This weekend we heard one line of a worship song, here are the lyrics from the song.

 “I lean not on my own understanding
My life is in the hands of the Maker of heaven
I give it all to You God trusting that you’ll make something beautiful out of me.
There’s nothing I hold on to
There’s nothing I hold on to
There’s nothing I hold on to
There’s nothing I hold on to
I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open
I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open”
-United Pursuit, Live at the Banks – Climb

 I want to focus on the line “I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open.”

Surrender – it’s tricky business.

I am almost 40 (sigh :/) and every year it seems I learn something new about complete surrender to God.

Surrender is about trust… and sometimes… let’s be honest here…. I trust my plans and ideas and dreams more than I trust Gods.

And yet I know to receive fully what God has for me, I must be willing to completely let go of everything else.

My hands must be open and empty for Him to lead me, guide me, and give me what He has promised.

When we can truly come humbly, with an attitude of surrender, giving our messy, complicated lives to Him – We can trust that He will indeed make something beautiful out of us, our circumstances and even our mess.

It’s that Divine exchange they talked about this weekend at Collide.

I give him ashes; He gives me beauty.

I release my spirit of heaviness; He gives me a garment of praise.

I give him mourning, He gives me Joy. (Is 61:3)

But the key is I truly have to surrender it all to Him.

He won’t give me the blessings while I still hold onto the ashes, the heaviness or the mourning.

It’s an Exchange! My stuff for His stuff!

This weekend I once again surrendered my desires to His. I want what He wants for me.

It’s painful. I cried.

It’s worth it. I’ve experienced it before.

I know He is trustworthy.

If He asks it of me, he will give me something better! Sometimes it just looks a lot different than what I had planned.

That’s the thing about surrender, about trust, sometimes you can’t see the end. You don’t know where He is leading you.

You just trust His Word, His promises and His character.

 That’s the way to climb those mountains in your life… with your hands wide open, nothing holding you back.

God gave me the picture of a small child desiring to be picked up by an adult.

What do they do? they hold arms up, hands open, trusting, letting go to get something better!